Bare These Bones
by stAnd out - SHOUT OUT
Summary: The complications of being the only of your species on Earth are never ending. Vahl'Sai was selected to be the 'practice test' for her species to come to Starfleet, and she's starting to feel more at home ever day. But what is James Kirk up to now? Spock/OC
1. My Only Difference

**Bare These Bones**

**My Only Difference**

Vahl'Sai, the only one of her species that is enrolled in Starfleet, is a female of a species that the humans have come to nickname _'The Predators'_. Sahvarian's, the true name of the species, were known for the animalistic tendencies and appearances. The slightly larger iris gave off a cattish appearance, aside from the lack of a vertical pupil, also including the colour and night vision. Partially elongated canines gave a fearsome appearance when they smile; their species were fit and lean, bones dense and muscles hard.

Vahl'Sai had been at Starfleet for two three already, mastering the English language fairly quickly, and was yet to find a place that she could fit in. She was taller than nearly all females at six feet and the fear that was often instilled when someone saw her fangs or the near disappearance of her pupil when she was angered drove people away from her faster than the smell of a Klingon could.

Her stark white hair brought people pause when they saw her and she couldn't help but to feel herself become self-conscious whenever she saw someone looking at her. She had never been self-conscious in her life while on Sahvanah; her people embraced the way that they looked with pride, showing themselves to the world. They didn't hide behind make-up, exposing articles of clothing or fancy hair. They were natural. They didn't run around nude, but they didn't like to feel constricted, either.

She had been volunteered by her Uncle, the head of the council on Sahvanah, to be the first to go to Starfleet as someone to test out how well her people could contribute. She had growled and snarled at her uncle when he told her that she would be leaving without giving her any chance to speak for her own freedom. Her parents were both dead and he was responsible of her until she had a mate to take care of her.

Females usually had great freedom in her world, but she was a niece to royalty and didn't have nearly as much freedom as she wished she could have. She was confined to her home back on her planet, males meeting with her at her Uncles will while she only growled and bared her fangs threateningly at them.

"_I will never be accepted on this 'human' planet,"_ _Vahl'Sai growled at her uncle as she paced the floor of the stone room that he was occupying, looking out over the city and forest that surrounded it._

"_You are not accepted here, Vahl'Sai."_

She had wished nothing more than to take the man's head off of his shoulders, release some of the pent up rage and strength that had slowly been building inside of her through the years of her incarceration. She had wished that her parents were still alive to protect her from the man that manipulated her in no way that any other person could.

Her father had died shortly after her mother had gotten pregnant, falling extremely ill when he had been out with a hunting party to remove a threat that had been spotted outside the city. Her mother had given birth to her seven months later, dying minutes after she had gasped out Vahl'Sai's name to the nurse that had been standing by. She bled out from internal bleeding because of tearing.

Her uncle was her mother's brother, whom had been close to his baby sister, was devastated and angered that Vahl'Sai had lived while his sister's life had been taken. He had blamed her for as long as she could remember for the death of her mother, punishing her in every indirect way that he could. He tortured her with his words, his rules and his constant degrading of her person and abilities.

Her third year in Starfleet and she was asked to temporarily take the place of a teacher that had been killed in action when Vulcan was destroyed and an enemy named Nero was taken out. The entire academy had been mournful of the many lives that were lost in the numerous vessels that had been destroyed upon arrival at Vulcan and the destruction of Vulcan itself. When the _U.S.S. Enterprise _returned to the school fully intact with only a few casualties throughout the battles, the attention that was centered on Vahl'Sai was temporarily diverted to the new Captain and the crew of the _Enterprise_.

Sitting behind the desk of the previous Commander of Security division, Vahl'Sai looked down at the number of students that would be transferred into her class while the head of the school looked for new teachers to replace the ones that were lost. They had been forced to place two—sometimes three—times more students than usual in a class.

Sighing to herself as she leaned back in her chair, she scrolled the list up to continue reading through the students, noting that she had several Cadets that had been on the _Enterprise _during the defeat of the Narada. A chime from her door locks told her that someone wished to enter, breaking her train of thought.

"Computer, allow entrance."

Looking up to see who entered, she rose to her feet quickly and fluidly when Admiral Pike wheeled his way into her office, her hand moving up to salute him.

"At ease, Commander," Pike assured with a smile. Vahl'Sai relaxed her posture as the Admiral wheeled himself up to the opposite side of her desk, watching as she sat back down in her own seat, adjusting the PADD that she had placed down on the surface so it was out of the way.

"How are you feeling, Admiral?"

"I'm feeling great, Vahl'Sai. Sadly, this visit is not leisure," Christopher Pike said as he leaned his elbows on the arms of his wheelchair, meeting Vahl'Sai's large green eyes with his blue ones. He was reminded so much of a feline whenever he saw the colour of her eyes. The shape was a normal human's, only larger.

"I'm here to help," Vahl'Sai said, opening her arms in a broadened gesture. Pike smiled, nodding his thanks. She smiled back, a single dimple appearing on her left cheek. "What can I do?"

"Take on a second class," Pike began right away, watching the slight rise of her eyebrows from her surprise. "I've already looked it through and, as long as it's alright with you, there shouldn't be any conflict with schedule. We're going to be opening up a class for students to learn Sahvarian and who else better to teach it than someone that speaks the language."

"How do you know that people would like to learn my language?" She asked curiously, her head tilting to the side with slight curiosity. Pike couldn't help but notice that she looked somewhat like a curious dog when doing so.

"The new students applying for the school are already signing up for the class. Hate to disappoint them," Pike said as he shifted in his seat. He repressed the urge to laugh as he watched her left eyebrow rise up above the other in a look that was so alike to Spock's it was nearly frightening.

"I suppose that I don't have a choice if there are already students wanting to take the class," She answered with a small grin. Her dimple didn't appear as prominently as before, but the sight of it was still cute none the less. He couldn't help but to become a type of brother to her over the time that he had known her, wanting to take away the scaring that her uncle had placed inside of her mind.

"Excellent!"

Resuming her seat after she had shaken hands with the Admiral and saw him from her office, Vahl'Sai fell back onto her rear in her seat, looking down at her wrist in silence. Her birth markings swirled up from beneath the sleeve of her black Commander's uniform, ending at the bottom of her palm. Clenching her hand and watching the pale black, tattoo looking lines that danced along the top of her skin.

"Differences," She mumbled to herself in English, looking over toward the clear crystal sphere that sat on her desk as a memento of her home world. Crystal, diamond, sapphire, emerald; they were all rare on Earth by now but were potent on her home planet. "I have too many."

Snagging the heavy weight in her hand, she held it up on the tops of her fingertips, assessing the heady weight that it provided for her. Grounding her to reality. It had been her mothers, given to her by her father when they were wed. Crystal was a symbol of love on her planet. The clearness of it meant that no secrets will be held between the couple, of pure love and trust.

Turning the perfect sphere around in her fingers, she looked back over toward the door where the Admiral had wheeled out through minutes before. She wondered what it would have been like to grow up with a father like him, or even just a sibling. She was an only child, after all. She didn't know what it was like to be so close to someone as family. She had close friends back at the palace, but it was nothing like what could be built between family or a mate.

"_I wish I had known you, mama,_" She whispered to the sphere in her native tongue, almost seeing her mother inside of hard mineral. She had seen photos and painting of her mother through the years, her father as well. She had her father's brilliant green eyes but her mother's white hair and facial structure. "_Papa."_

Placing the sphere back inside of the holder on the desk, she began to collect her things for the evening to take back to her teacher's dorm. Slipping her PADD's and her hand held computer back inside of her messenger bag, she looked down at the screen of her Physical Education class one more time before sliding it in as well.

"Computer, lights," She called as she walked through the door, setting the lock code in quickly before making her way down the hallway. It was late in the evening, nearly sundown. But one wouldn't have been able to tell by the looks of the outside world. The thick rainclouds had darkened the sky to the point that it looked dark as a winter's night, the moisture hanging thick in the air. Her pupils dilated until she could see out into the darkness clearly, not seeing a soul in sight.

Sighing quietly to herself, knowing that it was going to start raining before she reached her dorm building, she pulled the single strap of her back over her head and tightening it before beginning her trek out into the darkened courtyard. There was some light provided around the entrances to the building, but not much else.

Her acute hearing picked up the first sounds of rain beginning to hit the pavement around her and her pace picked up. Soon, the drops began to land on her face and shoulders. Starting to jog down a long set of stairs, she had to blink when a drop caught her in the eye, fogging her vision for a moment. In the brief pause that she took, the rain took on a dangerous current and began in an all-out pour. Darting down the remainder of the stairs, she bolted across the rest of the space before the next set of stairs, taking them three at a time. Reaching the top, there was a couple of other students that were running into the dorm building to escape the rain.

Her feet barely slapped the water covered ground as she ran before she slipped inside the closing door, scaring a couple of the students.

"Commander Vahl'Sai!" One of the guys said, standing slightly straighter. She nodded her head to him, not even winded from her run, before she began toward the lift. All of the people that were in the hall, including herself, were dripping with water. Vahl'Sai's hair had flattened against her skull and dropped into her face, water dripping off her nose and chin. She was glad that her bag was waterproof and her electronics were safe.

"Wait, Commander!" One of the girls called as she jogged to catch up. The elder woman stopped to look back.

"Yes?" Her accent wasn't as thick as it had been when she first arrived on Earth at Starfleet, but some students still had trouble understanding what she said.

"Is it true that you're going to be teaching a class of Xenolinguistics on Sahvarian?" She asked quickly, wiping at the water on her face. Vahl'Sai was surprised that students already knew about that and she had found out about it less than an hour prior.

"Yes. Starting next term if I'm not mistaken. Are you planning on taking the class?"

"I want to, yes. Is it difficult to learn?"

"I wouldn't really know," Vahl'Sai replied, calling the terbolift. The girl gave her a confused look, causing the other worldly woman to elaborate. "I grew up learning Sahvarian. Did anyone tell you how hard English is to learn and you were confused because it came easily to you?" The doors to the lift opened as the cadet nodded. "The language that people grow up learning is always the easiest. Second languages are always that hardest. How hard it is to learn will all depend on your ability to learn it."

One of the guys behind them snorted slightly in annoyance, "She sounds like Commander Spock when she speaks like that."

"I heard that, Cadet Crow," She called over her shoulder as she stepped into the lift, calling out her floor. Turning forward as the doors closed, she was relieved to have the peace. _Who's Commander Spock?_

* * *

><p><em><em>**This is only the beginning introduction to the story, the other chapters will be longer, of that I assure. I am going to say right now that I did _not_ get this idea from Avatar! I love the movie, but that is not what this story is based on!**


	2. Shake It Off

**Bare These Bones**

**Shake It Off**

Vahl'Sai counted the new faces that had been added to her class that were actually on time, watching as they spoke and waited for her to draw their attention. They stood in the gymnasium of the school, the large room able to accommodate all of them. She noticed right away when James .T. Kirk flaunted his way into the room, grinning at the female group that stood nearby.

_This will be an interesting term,_ she thought to herself as she looked away from the womanizing male. She had been in his classes before and had avoided him—as the humans would say—like the plague. When a couple of the guys toward the back of the growing crowd began to horse around and begin mock fights, she brought her hand to her lips and blew the air from her lungs over her tongue and strategically placed fingers to produce a sharp, resounding whistle.

The crowd went silent as people stopped mid word in their conversations, looking over to her with wide eyes. "Thank you," She said, easily projecting her voice loud enough. "I would like to welcome all new cadets to the class, I am Commander Vahl'Sai—and no you may not call me Commander Vahl." She could hear some of the students that had already been in her class laugh at her words. "I am sure that you have all asked someone else in the class already if this class is easy. The answer is no."

"Got that right," One of the males in the back called, making her grin slightly to herself.

"Anyway, we'll be starting out easy so that everyone can become used to the work. I will only do this for a week, don't expect this to be easy term. Now, who's up for a run?" She asked, hearing some people groan at her question. "Would you rather spar?"

"My jaw still hurts, no thanks."

"Thank you, Cadet Namashi, for your input. If you wish to speak, raise your hand."

The class was too large for everyone to be running laps along the outlining track, so she instead split them in half—the first group ran the track for a half hour while the other half would begin muscle training. She was going to beef them up a bit in the first couple of weeks before they moved along to self defense training.

She had gotten many dirty looks because she put the people that avoided one another the most in groups so that they wouldn't feel inclined to speak to each other instead of doing their work—which had happened many times and tended to irk her more than most things on this planet. The people that were running the track didn't need as much supervision as the ones that were using the weights and other equipment to work out, so she tended to veer to that group.

Spotting Cadet James .T. Kirk beginning to pump the weighted bar of the bench press made her shake her head. He didn't have someone spotting him. Stepping over to him easily, she noticed that he was pressing over eighty pounds. He didn't seem to be exerting much stress on the presses, but she knew that that amount of weight could tire out a human's arms quickly and often end with them losing the ability to raise the bar high enough to put it back in its holdings, resulting with it, instead, landing on their head or throat.

"Cadet Kirk," She said, taking the bar in on hand at the center and pulling it up to put it back in place, she watched his eyes widen as he quickly sat up, turning to face her. "I can't allow you to work on the bench press without a spotter," She began, but he was still watching her in shock.

"What are you?" He finally asked, his voice holding a note that struck a cord inside of her.

"Cadet," She began coldly. He seemed to notice his mistake and quickly stuttered to explain.

"Sorry, that came out the wrong way. Didn't mean it, I swear!" He said quickly, holding his hands up in silent surrender. She straightened her posture slightly until she stood at her full height of six feet, her demeanour turning cold. It was just like her first days at the Academy.

"Please move along, cadet." Turning to the other students, she stepped away from the bench press and the soon to be official Captain of the _U.S.S. Enterprise_. She could hear him curse from behind her even when she was yards away from him, her back to him and her attention diverted.

After thirty minutes, she told the people on the track to stop running and begin to walk to slowly cool down their body temperatures. They were huffing and puffing, pressing their hands on cramps in their sides with sweat coating their skin. She tended to forget that running for thirty minutes break free could tired them out much faster than her kind. Sahvarian's were built to be athletic. Sahavarian's were built to be predators.

"Commander," A voice called from behind her. A young cadet was standing at the bench press that she had kicked Jim Kirk off of earlier in the class, looking slightly timid. "I can't find a spotting partner, could you spot me?"

"Of course."

Moving to standing at the head of the work out equipment, she waited for the girl to get herself into a comfortable position on her cushioned bench. She received a nod once she was and prepared herself for if the girl needed any help. She would quickly glance up every once and a while to make sure that the others were doing their own work, but her attention stayed mostly on the girl she was helping.

She made it to sixty presses of thirty pounds before she began to tremble. She gasped when she wasn't able to push the weight up again, Vahl'Sai's hands already there taking the bar from her and raising it back up to its holdings.

"How strong are Sahvarians?" The cadet asked curiously between huffs of breath.

"Roughly five times stronger than the average human when trained. If not trained, only around three times stronger," She explained, watching as the girl nodded along. Walking out to the space between the fitness room and the track, Vahl'Sai whistled again, drawing the attention of the people on the track. Making a turning gesture with her hand, the people slowly began to make their way toward the fitness room while the other group put down their weights and turned off their equipment.

She watched as the new track group began to jog slowly, the weight work already having warmed up their bodies. She let the group that had just gotten off the track take a moment to cool down and drink some water before they moved on to their own work for the remainder of the class.

**~ ҉ ~**

Holding an apple between her teeth as she collected her things from her office, ready to head back to her apartment like dorm inside of teachers quarters, Vahl'Sai was unprepared for when someone requested entrance into the office. She wasn't expecting someone to be there so late, even the Admiral had come earlier in the evening the previous night. Pulling the apple from her mouth, she granted the visitor entrance.

"Commander."

Looking up from her work, she couldn't deny that she was surprised to see Jim Kirk standing just inside of the doorway to her office. Straightening her posture, she quirked an eyebrow at him curiously, placing her snack down on her desk top.

"To what do I owe this visit, Cadet Kirk?" She asked evenly, seeing the upward tilt to one corner of his mouth.

"You remind me of Spock sometimes. But, that's not the reason. I came to apologize. I don't want to have a Commander that can work me to the bone in a fitness class having a grudge against me." Smiling slightly at his reason, Vahl'Sai knew that she wouldn't have been able to deny wanting to make him work a little harder than the others. "Sometimes I have no brain to mouth filter."

"Indeed," She agreed, turning to resume placing her things in her bag. "Was that all?"

"Actually, I was wondering what you were. _Not _trying to sound offensive again, but I've never seen someone lift ninety pounds with one hand before." Kirk moved forward toward the Commander's desk, noticing that she was relatively neat, except for a few reports thrown about that she had been working on before she began to pack away her things.

"Have you ever heard of a Sahvarian?" She asked, looking up to him with her deep emerald eyes. Kirk paused a moment at the sight of them, wondering what could have caused the colour. Green eyes weren't unknown, but they were rare on Earth now and _never_ as bold as hers were.

"Briefly, a friend of mine wouldn't shut up about the class that she wanted to take to learn Sahvarian. Never looked into the race before," He admitted, watching her hands fluidly slip things inside of her bag or desk drawers.

"I am the only Sahvarian at Starfleet. We are new to the Federation and I was—I suppose—a test for my people if we would be an asset to the Federation," She explained. "My people are even stronger than Romulan's and Vulcan's, depending on the training." Kirk grinned as he thought about what it would look like for Spock to get his ass kicked by a woman and had to repress a laugh. Coughing discretely to stop the laugh Vahl'Sai looked up to him curiously.

"Well, I'm sorry to have taken up your time, Commander," He said as he moved to depart, pausing just before the door. "Commander, how long have you been in Starfleet?"

"Less than three years," She answered simply. "Have a pleasant evening, Cadet."

Recognizing the dismissal, Kirk smirked to himself as he walked out, Vahl'Sai watching his back until her door closed behind him. Why would he ask her how long she had been in Starfleet? Most of the cadets already knew that she would probably still be in the classes with them if she hadn't known the material so well and had been asked to become a temporary Commander.

Shouldering her bag, she took a bite out of her apple as she was making her way toward the door, the juice flooding her mouth. The flavour wasn't as potent as the fruits on her planet, but she still enjoyed the food immensely. Her people had extremely sensitive taste buds and it made their food so much more enjoyable for them.

Typing in her lock code, she turned on heel and made her way down the hall, noting that the sky was a bright reddish orange as sunset came over the campus. Striding easily across the same courtyard that she had been running through the night before, she spotting Jim Kirk sitting on one of the stone dividers, speaking with a friend of his that was dressed in a similar red uniform.

Taking the steps two at a time, she didn't look back when she suddenly heard Kirk hush his words into whispers, the distance between her and them making it hard for her to understand what they were saying. Giving up on trying to understand why he was suddenly secretive toward her, she continued to her own room, finishing off her fruit and disposing of it before she entered the lift to take her up to the top floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Ta-da, second chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, I'm going to try and have the next chapter up against really soon, but it all depends on the reviews I get! I can see how many people are reading the story, so I <em>know<em> there should be more reviews. Reviews give me a push to write more and update, because that actually makes me feel like people are reading the story!**


	3. Black and White

**Bare These Bones**

**Black and White**

A swift swing of her leg upward with barely any force behind it hit the Cadet that she was facing off against directly in the jaw, throwing him off balance and onto the floor. She stepped back while she waited for him to regain his footing, but he made a cutting sign across his throat as a sign of giving up the fight, coughing slightly as he tried to compose himself.

"Cadet Kirk, tell me what fault Cadet Bradley had," Vahl'Sai said as she turned toward where Kirk was sitting on the edge of the mats with the other cadets of his class. He had a towel around the back of his neck and a water bottle in hand, sweat still on his skin from the run that he had been forced to do when he was late for class.

"Uh…he didn't duck?" He asked, causing several other students around him to snicker.

"Would you like to be my next opponent, Cadet Kirk, to test out your theory? I asked you for an answer, not another question." Kirk's face went serious after she spoke and she knew that she had struck a nerve. He hated when people dogged on him in front of others, especially the women in the class, and she used that to her advantage whenever she needed him to be serious.

"He was thinking too much on the offensive and not enough on his defensive. He was so busy looking for an opening to hit that he missed the signs of your next attack," He answered, getting a smile from the Commander. He flinched when he knew that he had played himself right into her trap. Again.

"That is correct, Cadet Kirk. Cadet Bradley, do I need to send you to sick bay?" She asked, looking over to the male in question. He simply shook his head, nursing the forming bruise on his jaw. "I apologize if I used excessive force. You may sit out for the next partnering round if you wish. Thank you for your cooperation." He held up his water bottle in a type of silent cheers before he fell back onto the mats, sweat drenching his clothing and his chest rising and falling from exertion.

The class was sitting in a wide circle on the sparring mats in one of the connecting rooms to the track, their red and black track suits on with their water bottles in their hands. Self Defense Training had been on for a week and they already looked ready petrified when she requested a volunteer. She looked around at the group, noting that the ones that hadn't been called on that day looked bored and irritated.

"Who was it that asked me when we were learning how to throw someone?" She asked suddenly, a couple of hands rising in response to her question. "Of the people who have their hands up, I need a volunteer." The hands went down just as fast as they had risen, making her chuckle. "Come on, I don't bite."

One of the girls timidly raised her hand and Vahl'Sai motioned her up, waiting until she was standing across from her. She looked petrified that she had actually just volunteered to be thrown by the strongest person in Starfleet, but she was hiding it pretty well. Vahl'Sai was careful to assure the girl that she wasn't going to hurt her, only show the steps on how to do so properly.

She demonstrated to the other students on how one would throw an opponent off of them in they had them in a choke hold from behind, using the arm that was clutching their throat as leverage. She was careful to take it slow so that they could all see the steps and that Cadet Moore, the volunteered female, wouldn't get frightened or injured. She stopped before she would actually toss the girl over her shoulder, only pulling her onto her back and rising Moore's feet of the floor by a foot before she put the girl back down.

"Thank you, Cadet, you may resume your seat. Would anyone like to volunteer to actually act out the full move or would you like to partner up now and practice?"

"I'll do it," Kirk said as he raised his hand up, placing his towel and water to the side. Vahl'Sai looked at him curiously for a moment before she motioned for him to stand up and join her. The other students clapped as he did so, causing him to smile—smirking at a group of girls a couple of feet away.

"Come and stand behind me, just as Cadet Moore had."

Kirk moved to stand behind the Commander, wrapping his arm around her neck in the process. It was slightly strange for him to be so close to—both his commanding officer, and— a woman that was the exact height as him, if not taller. He was used to women being smaller than he was.

Vahl'Sai let him take a moment to prepare himself before she took a hold of his forearm, near his wrist and elbow, and bent forward, using the momentum in her pull to take the cadet right off his feet. Kirk grunted in surprise to suddenly find himself airborne for a total of one second before his back slammed down onto the mats hard enough to temporarily stun him. Vahl'Sai fluently stepped up to his side and used her hold on his arm to pull him up into a sitting position, patting him on the back as he tried to regain his breath.

"Very good, Cadet Kirk, thank you for your assistance. Now, partner up and please try to keep partnered with someone of the same weight class for the time being," She called over the students, the red and black dressed adults rising to their feet and placing their things aside as they partnered up.

Kirk coughed slightly when his lungs finally let him take in some air, taking in the oxygen greedily as he tilted his head back. He last time that he had felt that much power in one being was when he was getting the shit beaten out of him by Spock on the bridge of the _Enterprise._ Now he knew why no one wanted to be her test dummy when she was showing them how to spar or fight correctly.

"Are you alright?" He looked over to Vahl'Sai, seeing her kneeling beside him with concern in her slightly green eyes. "I've never had a student actually volunteer to let me throw them before so I don't know if I used too much force."

"You really need to monitor your strength all the time, don't you?" Kirk asked, standing on his feet sluggishly. "I'm good, just got to let my organs catch up."

The end of class came fairly quickly after she had used Kirk as an example, the Captain soon partnering up and training with the rest of them. It relieved her that she hadn't injured one of her students accidentally. That was one thing that she looked forward to about her Xenolinguistics class next term, she didn't have to worry about injuring the cadets in her class accidentally while teaching them.

She waited in the sparing room while the students went to change back into their other uniforms, soon joining her back inside the large space. She just let them talk for the remainder of the class until the bell sounded that signalled the students were to move along to their next classes. She was still dressed in her black Commanders track uniform for her next lesson, her white hair pulled back into a tight pony tail.

"Hey, Commander," Kirk called as he jogged over to her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him in silent question. "I was wondering if you could show me some other moves, you know, after class? I'm going to be taking off after next term on the _Enterprise _and I want to get some more training it physical combat."

"I can't give you special attention unless you need it, Cadet Kirk. You are at the top of the class, aside from some questionable attendance problems, and I see no need for you to take after school lessons." Her answer brought a look of disappointment to his face, but he was determined to get her to agree.

"Come on, I have a bet with a friend that I can beat him I combat and he's going to kill me if I don't train more," He said, making her sigh. She should have known that he was lying in his first excuse. Or was he still lying now? His heart was still beating quickly from class so she was unable to detect if he was lying without him discovering her. "He's a Vulcan and I'm going to need more than just human combat tactics."

"For a human male to make a bet that he can defeat a Vulcan male in a fight is a fairly idiotic thing to do, Cadet Kirk. They are three times stronger than humans."

"And you're about five, so if you train me-"

"Fine, just stop with the excuses," She finally said, dropping her head back in exasperation. Kirk cheered as he did a small celebration, the bell sounding and letting him know that it was time to run. "Meet me here at 1700 tomorrow evening and do not be late."

"I'll be here, I swear," He said quickly before running off, snatching his bag up from the floor as he ran past it. Vahl'Sai shook her head in exasperation, knowing that the agreement that she had just made was somehow going to come back to bite her in the ass. She was still thinking through her deal when the students for her next class began to file out of the change rooms in their track uniforms, sitting down in a wide circle as they had been doing for the past week.

**҉**

James Kirk couldn't supress his smirk as he stepped into his dorm room, Leonard McCoy already there finishing his daily medical reports. He threw his bag down beside the foot of his bed before he fell back onto the mattress with a pleased sigh.

"Alright, what the hell are you so happy about?" McCoy demanded as he looked up from his PADD after the second sigh escaped his dorm-mate.

"I have a plan," He started, hearing his friend groan from his own bed as he placed his PADD to the side. He just knew that this was going to be a long and very bad talk. Jim glared as his friend for a moment before he sat up on his bed to face the doctor.

"Please tell me that it doesn't have to do with the pointy eared bastard," McCoy said, his southern accent still as thick as the day that he had first met Jim on the shuttle off planet.

"Of course!"

"Jim-"

"Come on, Bones, you can't tell me that you haven't noticed his weird Vulcan way of moping since Uhura canned their relationship," Jim interrupted, only hearing the doctor grumble in response. "I've found the perfect person for him."

"Good god man, you honestly think that you're going to be able to find a match for _Spock._ Are we talking about the same Vulcan here? The pointy eared, green blooded hobgoblin that had you suspended from the _Enterprise_, that Vulcan?"

Jim laughed as he shook his head, falling backward onto his bed again, "She's not exactly human, Bones. Ever met Commander Vahl-"

"Stop right there, Jim," McCoy ordered as he jumped to his feet. "You can't honestly be serious if you think that you can set up a Sahvarian with a Vulcan. They're as close to polar opposite as you can get," He ranted, making Jim roll his eyes and move his arms behind his head so it was propped up and he could see his friend face to face.

"I'm taking classes with the Commander after school tomorrow and whenever else. I told her that I bet Spock I could fight him and win and that I needed her help so that I didn't get my ass kicked," Jim replied with a cocky grin perking his lips.

"You lied to Commander Vahl'Sai and lived? The woman's like a living lie detector!"

"Yes, but she's able to tell when someone's lying by listening to their heart beat and if it speeds up or not. I had just finished with Fitness when I asked her so my heart rate hadn't gone down by the time I asked her. She wouldn't have been able to tell."

McCoy just looked at Jim with shock in his eyes before he dropped his head down and sighed loudly. He began to rub at his face with his hands to try and clear his head. It was actually a very smart thing to do so she wouldn't know he as lying, but it wasn't like she was never going to find out. Sahvarian's were temperamental at times and Jim could get hurt if the truth were to slip while they were training after school and no one was around to stop her.

"You're going to get killed one of these days and it's not because you work for the Federation," McCoy grumbled just loud enough for Jim to hear him, scoffing loudly when he did.

"Come on, Bones, look me in the eye and tell me that you don't think this is going to be an awesome term?" Jim asked as he sat up in his bed once more, the grin still plastered on his face with a dangerous look in his eye. McCoy refused to look him in the eye.


	4. Hit the Mats

**Bare These Bones**

**Hit The Mats**

Vahl'Sai stood in the center of the gym that she was going to be meeting Kirk in, her arms crossed before her chest as she looked toward the windows. Her long hair was still pulled back from her last lesson and she was dressed in the black track suit of a commander for the Security team. She was sporting a faint blue spot on the corner of her jaw where she had been kicked by one of the men while she was sparing with them, but it wasn't enough to result in a bruise.

She didn't even turn toward the doors when she heard them open, knowing that it was either someone unimportant or it was Kirk and she didn't have reason to acknowledge either. She only turned to look when he came to stand a couple of feet away from her, clearly waiting.

He spoke first, "Told you I'd be on time."

"That you did," she said with a nod, uncrossing her arms. "I hope you're prepared, because I'm not going to be wasting my time here," she said simply with a serious look in her eyes. Kirk noticed the spot on her jaw and wondered who had been able to land a kick on her jaw. The entire time he had known her she had never let anyone touch her. "The sparing had already ended when I was hit," she said, clearly realizing that he had been staring at the reddened skin.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, but she just shook it off.

"I'm going to allow you to choose what you wish to train first. It's your fight."

"Reflexes," Kirk answered immediately, "He's fast and if I'm not careful I might just lose my head."

As soon as he finished his sentence he hit the floor, Vahl'Sai's foot flying just over his head. He could feel the air that rushed against his face moments after her foot passed by, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest in split second fright.

"You're reflexes are already very good," she amended, offering him a hand. "I apologize, I had to test you somehow." Kirk continued to look up at her in shock, taking her hand carefully. She pulled him up to his feet easily, patting his back once before stepping away to put space between them again. "You won't need too much training on your reflexes, but Vulcan's are quick so I'll make sure that I stay at their speed while we train."

"What if I wasn't that fast, you would have hit me!"

"No, I have better control than that, Cadet Kirk, I could very easily have stopped mid kick before I actually hurt you. However, I knew from class that the chance of me actually landing that kick were very slim." Kirk looked at the woman incredulously as she turned her back to walk away a few steps before spinning to face him again. "Now, try and hit me."

Kirk looked at her for a moment, trying to think of a way that he might actually land a blow, before charging forward. Vahl'Sai easily ducked below the punch he threw her way, spinning on the balls of her feet and moving away from him again all at once, never even blinking. Kirk followed after her, lashing out again, but she was just as fast as before, she was gone before he even had a chance. They continued their one sided dance, Vahl'Sai fluently spinning away from each of his attacks without so much as a stumble or pause. It was minutes later before she finally kicked the back of his knee and sent him to the ground.

Kirk heard a faint chuckling sound and rolled onto his back to see Vahl'Sai smiling down at him, laughing softly. His eyes widened at the sight of her actually showing him a full smile, her canines visible to him. Her smile was wide enough that he could see all four canines, the two bottom points visible above her bottom lip but the two top points hidden. That was the first time that he had ever seen her smile, truly smile.

"That was very good, Cadet. Here." Offering her hand, Kirk huffed irritably but took her hand and allowed her to tug him to his feet without any effort at all.

Hours later, Vahl'Sai was once more stepping from her office after dark, putting in the lock key in with her free hand. Her other hand was holding a stack of papers that she had needed to sign in order to finalize the class on Sahvarian Linguistics. She had to turn them in to Pike in the morning, since she was sure that he had already retired for the evening.

"Commander, wait!" Kirk's voice didn't make Vahl'Sai stop, only keep on walking as he ran to catch up to her.

"You're making this a habit, Cadet Kirk. What may I do to assist you _this_ time?"

"I wanted you to meet someone, she's going to be in your advanced class for linguistics next term and she wants to meet you," Kirk explained, doing his best to keep up with her long strides. She suddenly stopped and looked back to where Kirk had come from, nearly making the cadet trip when he attempted to stop just as abruptly. A dark skinning female was walking toward them from the end of the hall, her red cadet uniform catching the light.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Commander Vahl'Sai," the young woman said as she held out her hand. Vahl'Sai took the small woman's hand in her own, her tan fingers far longer than the younger's. "I'm Cadet Uhura," She introduced carefully.

"A pleasure."

Vahl'Sai could feel the quick pulse of the female through her skin and offered a smile and a nod as she spoke to calm the cadet's nerves down. Uhura smiled back as she pulled her hand away, her heat beat still loud in Vahl'Sai's ears. Her green eyes met the dark brown ones of the Cadet and she immediately knew that this girl was serious about her skill.

"I assume you're majoring in linguistics?" Vahl'Sai posed, but Uhura seemed lost as she looked at the woman. Vahl'Sai looked over to Kirk who was rolling his eyes.

"You're accent," he said simply, making her nod. Uhura snapped out of her trance and smiled timidly. "Now that I think about it, you do sound quite a bit like you have a Spanish accent," he commented a moment later.

"Sahvarian language is nothing like the Spanish of Earth. The accent might sound similar but the words and grammar are as close to opposite as possible," she said, looking directly into Kirk's baby blue eyes. She could have sworn that she saw him twitch at her words.

"Wow, you were right when you said that she was like Spock," Uhura mumbled, smiling slightly. "We should introduce them, I'm sure that she would be the perfect refreshment in the sea of illogical people."

"Why am I always compared to this Spock?" Vahl'Sai asked herself aloud as she turned to head out. Kirk nearly jumped after her, making her sidestep uneasily as she looked sideways at him. Her larger irises look like the green was glowing, the colour so bold against her tan skin.

"Still up for my lesson tomorrow, right?"

"I will inform you during class if there is any change to my schedule. Now, I must be off. Good evening, Cadet Kirk, Cadet Uhura."

"It was great to meet you, Commander!" Uhura called from where she was still standing further up the hall, bowing slightly. Vahl'Sai nodded her head before she turned to exit the hallway, stepping out into the darkened hallway. The night air was cool and moist, making her smile. It almost felt like she was home again. But she couldn't smell the nature of the world beyond the city here, the stench of steel and concrete marred the beauty the world once had.

She really needed to burn off some of the pent up energy she was storing up.

Easily changing in her room, she soon found herself back out on the streets in her gym outfit, taking off at a dead run down the street. She would need to get in a couple of hours of running to take the edge off of her agitated nerves. She was relieved that the streets were deserted of nearly all people since it was so late in the evening. She was able to run down the streets without worry of running into or startling anyone.

**҉**

Uhura and Bones sat on the benches to the side of the large gym that Jim's class was in. Several other people that had friends in the class had also come to join them, sitting around and talking. The class had been informed that Vahl'Sai would be running only a few minutes late that day and to begin their warm up routine without her. Jim had already finished his laps around the gym and was flirting with one of the girls in his class.

"Not to be rude, but why did you come?" Bones finally asked as he looked over at Uhura. She was still dressed in her red Cadet uniform, while he was in his blue science uniform after having just finished his medical rounds. Class had actually already finished for the day, but Jim's class also had their self-defense test today as well as their final lesson just before.

"I'm really interested in Savarian culture; I'm going to be taking Commander Vahl-Sai's class next term. I wanted to come and see the lesson at the beginning of class to see how Savarian's fight," she explained easily, never taking her eyes off the groups that covered the gym. It was a large class and probably would have been difficult for any other human teacher to handle. Uhura knew, however, that Vahl'Sai's strict reputation for obedience was renowned throughout the school.

"She doesn't fight in Savarian style, it's human fighting techniques," Bones quickly replied, remembering what Jim had told him a couple of days before.

"She's still the one fighting though. I guess it's not really the technique, but the way that she delivers it."

Bones was about to speak again when Jim jogged over to them, a grin in place. He had been looking forward to the test for quite a while, since there had been rumours that Spock would be attending to assist Vahl'Sai in the testing process. Bones knew that he was probably so excited because Vahl'Sai had never met the Vulcan Commander and Jim was still determined to fail at being a matchmaker.

"Uhura, I didn't expect to see you here," Jim said in greeting, causing the dark skinned woman to roll her eyes and turn away from him. Jim just smirked before he turned to his friend, seeing that Bones had his PADD of work out before him. "Do you ever take a break?"

"I'm a doctor, Jim, it's my job."

"Oh, come on, Bones! Stop acting like you've got a stick up your-"

A sharp whistle cut off Jim's final word. Uhura and Bones, as well as all other guests attending the class, watched in surprise as every single person of the class went silent and turned their attention to where the doors had opened. Vahl'Sai was walking into the dressed in her black track uniform, making a circular motion with her hand to round everyone up. The students all moved as though it were routine, even Jim stepping away from Bones and Uhura without another word, to make a large circle on the matts around Vahl'Sai.

"Alright," she said began, her voice carrying through the room easily, "Welcome to all of our guests today. As I informed you all last class, we will begin with the final self defense lesson today before proceeding to the self-defense tests." Vahl'Sai looked over to the crowd of people along the benches to the side of the gym, recognizing a few of them, before she turned her attention to her class again. "We will also be having a couple of other guests as well, shortly. Several of you are under evaluation for star ship placement and this test will be important for you," she explained, seeing a couple of the students begin to look stricken. She smirked then, showing off a small bit of fang. "I hope you remembered to study."

Bones looked to where Jim was sitting, resting back against his hands with a look on his face that said he didn't have a care in the world. He, too, could see the people that had begun to tense up at the mention of ship evaluations. Although, he doubted that it was for much more than Jim and a couple of other people that were promoted quickly on the _Enterprise_.

"On with the lesson, then," the Commander called over the group then, placing her hands on her hips once more. Bones noted the thinness of her body, she looked barely thick enough to be considered healthy, but he knew for a fact that Savarians ate nearly three times as much as the average human to keep up their body weight. Their metabolism blew through fat and calories like it were air itself. She had long limbs, thin but with defined muscle. It was hard to tell, though, from the amount of clothing she had on. Long pants and long sleeves made it hard to tell her muscle tone. "Since _Captain_ Kirk is always _so_ enthusiastic to be around woman, why don't you come and join me?"

Jim looked shocked to have been called on so soon, before he rose to his feet and stepped up to stand with Vahl'Sai in the center of the circle. He had barely been standing for a second near her before she swung a kick at his face, forcing him to drop to the floor on his back to avoid getting kicked. His eyes were wide as he stared at her in disbelief; _that was the second time she had done that_. She looked around at everyone else, the entire class having jumped at the fast movement.

"Today, we learn how to dodge."

**I would love to see Kirk's face it that happened to him, it would be **_**so**_** funny. Anyway, sorry the extra long delay on this chapter. I'll have the next one out soon since it's nearly finished already. Please send in your reviews, feedback is my motivation! :)**


	5. Break the Limits

**Bare These Bones**

**Break the Limits**

Bones could understand why Jim was so focused on setting Vahl'Sai up with Spock; at least now that he had seen her. Bones had never seen the Savarian in her element before, but now that he was watching her fight, he could understand where Jim had come up with the plan. She was different from Spock in many ways that it was hard to think that setting her up with the Vulcan could ever actually work. But she matched up with his personality in many ways as well.

Vahl'Sai showed her emotion openly, most of the time, opposite of Spock. But she had a type of precision when she fought and taught the students in her class that as well. Everything was well calculated before executed, all of her moves being played out with practiced ease. She never acted irrationally; everything was planned and thought out in a way that would make Spock proud.

Uhura watched with wide eyes as Vahl'Sai took down the entire class one at a time, never injuring any of her students but giving them enough of a hit to understand what they would need to do. She made sure that they all understood what they were supposed to do before she actually forced any of them to practice.

Bones and Uhura winced in unison as Vahl'Sai threw her weight to the side and slammed her shoulder into Cadet Namashi's side, the male falling back onto the mats with a groan. She repeated the same process as always, offering a hand and assisting the cadet back onto their feet to move away and regain their composure.

"She's ruthless when she's fighting, but she's kind when she's teaching," Uhura said with awe in her eyes, watching the next cadet move up to allow Vahl'Sai to continue the lesson. Uhura found herself enraptured with the movements of the Savarian, her eyes following along as the Commander was able to glide through the movements slowly but efficiently, her mind completely focused on teaching her class the proper ways to dodge or relocate an attack on their person.

In what the two observers knew must have been routine, Vahl'Sai soon sent them off in partners, glaring at a couple that had dared to move toward friends that they would talk with more than do their work. They glared back slightly but chose different partners. Bones was unsettled at one point when one of the girls dared to glare back, looking directly into the Commander's eyes. Vahl'Sai raised one eyebrow, tilted her head to the side as she challenged the girl. She quickly dashed off to find another partner when her teacher took a step in her direction, accepting the Cadet's silent challenge.

They had been sparing together for a good thirty minutes as the Savarian Commander made her rounds, sometimes moving to the sides to speak with the spectators. She was friendly enough that they didn't feel intimidated to speak with her, even after they had all seen what she was capable of doing. It was thirty minutes after they had paired up that the doors opened and Admiral Pike stepped in, motioning Vahl'Sai over silently. She went without a word, most of the class following her with their eyes for a moment.

"I wonder if Spock's actually going to be assisting today," Uhura muttered suddenly, not able to see if he was standing outside the doors with the others or not. They closed behind Vahl'Sai, another Commander that had been with Pike stepping in to watch the class while she was out for the moment.

Vahl'Sai nodded her thanks to the other Commander as she passed him, stepping out beside Admiral Pike. There were several others from the High Command that were there, but not even half of the full panel. Her bright green eyes landed on a very tall male that she had not met before, his features telling her immediately that he was not of human heritage.

"Commander Vahl'Sai, this is Commander Spock," Pike introduced, motioning to the pale skinned male. Spock nodded his head in acknowledgement, getting a nod back from the white haired female a couple feet away from him. "He's going to be assisting you with the testing process since he too will be undergoing evaluation to re-board the _Enterprise._"

"Of course, the help is greatly appreciated. My class has grown quite a bit since the first days that I had taken over," she replied smoothly, her accent causing her words to swirl on her tongue in a very inhuman way. "It's an honour to finally meet you, Commander Spock, though, I feel I know you already," She said as she turned her attention toward the black haired Vulcan.

"May I inquire as to what you mean?" Spock asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Many of my students, and some cadets that are not in my classes, have compared me to you in many ways. I believe that Cadet Uhura phrased it as 'refreshing in a sea of illogical people'."

"Vahl'Sai isn't very accustomed with Human slang," Pike explained more easily to the Vulcan, drawing the attention of both xeno's, "She's confused by the way we phrase things sometimes and it often reminds people of how Vulcan's are very logical."

"Understood," Spock said with a nod. Vahl'Sai found herself curious of the Vulcan race. From what she did know, her people were very far away when it came to being on a scale of comparison with Vulcan's. Not only with their mental ways, such as emotion and whether they supress it or not, but also with their looks. Vulcan's all looked relatively the same, but Savarian's varied in many ways. They all had the same golden tan hue on their skin from the amount of time they spent outside and in the harsh sunlight on their planet, but their hair and eye colour varied from blue, all the way to bright red. Vahl'Sai's snow white hair was actually very rare, scientists considered it to be much the same as the human gene of red hair and green eyes.

"Anyway, back on topic," Pike said, looking to Vahl'Sai, "Commander Spock will be assisting you with grading half of your class so that the process doesn't take as long. We are going to be staying to watch over the certain cadets that will be moving to take up spaces on the newest starships, as well as the _Enterprise._"

A sudden commotion from the gym caused the small group to turn to face the doors, the Commander that had stepped in to watch over the class stepped through the doors with a look of shock on his features.

"There's an escalating argument, Commander, they won't listen to me," he said with a hint of aggravation in his voice. Vahl'Sai sighed inaudibly before turning to head into the class, marching past the other Commander. Two of the men that were fighting were two that she knew were both trying to become security officials. They had been going through an ongoing macho fest since they had entered her class.

Without a single word she marched up toward the large group that had circled them, a path parting as soon as the students realized that she was coming. Jim Kirk stood to the side with a bloody nose, most likely from trying to stop the fight. She ducked under a swinging fist, leaving both men momentarily shocked. Driving her right elbow into the gut of one, he ducked to the ground in pain and fell away to the right. She jabbed her knuckles into the thigh of the man to her left before slamming her right palm against his chest to knock him back, a rush of air escaping his lungs. The room fell deathly silent as all eyes moved from Vahl'Sai, to the men on the floor, and finally to the men and woman who had entered after her.

"Would someone care to explain _what_ is going on?" Vahl'Sai demanded, looking around at the students that had crowded the fighters.

"They were fighting over who would get a place on the _Enterprise_," one of the cadets said from the back of the crowd, probably because he knew that Vahl'Sai wouldn't snap at him if she couldn't see him.

"And who was it that struck Cadet Kirk in the process?" At this, she looked down at the men on the floor, both of whom were recovering from their hits. Neither looked ready to admit it, both avoiding her eyes as they tried not to embarrass themselves further. Vahl'Sai turned her eyes over to Kirk, seeing his eyes widen when she turned to him.

"Jason," he said in a calm tone, clearly disliking the idea of ratting someone out, even if they'd struck him.

"I wasn't aiming for him!" Jason Mack yelled suddenly, causing Vahl'Sai to look down at him in hinted irritation. "He stepped in the way to stop the fight, I wasn't trying to hit him," he explained in a tight voice, looking annoyed that he was being looked down upon. Vahl'Sai hummed quietly to herself before ducking down to take hold of his collar, pulling him to his feet. He shook for a moment in surprise before he allowed her to release him and move over to assist the other Cadet to their feet.

"Say you wished to have my position, would you throw a fist at me?" she asked steadily, looking between the two men. They avoided her eyes, glancing at one another quickly before their eyes fell on the people crowding them. "Answer me."

"No," they muttered in unison.

"Do not speak like scolded children," she snapped, causing them both to look up to her in surprise. "It is dishonourable to fight with men or women that are your allies. You are meant to watch one others backs in a fight, instead you brawl over a simple matter of starship placement? I understand that the _Enterprise_ is a highly viewed placement, but on what planet do you think that fighting with one another on your assessment day would benefit you?"

"I'm sorry, Commander Vahl'Sai," Richard Lore said with a calm voice, looking her in the eye.

She did not seem pleased to hear it. "If I were to tell you to apologize to Cadet Kirk, would the nose bleed Cadet Mack gave him disappear? If Cadet Mack apologized to you would it heal your bruises or the cut on your lip?"

Lore froze at her words and a flush appeared in his cheeks as he looked away from her in embarrassment.

"The two of you will still be assessed today, bruised and sore or not, it changes nothing." The two men flinched at her words, knowing that they were going to be leaving the gym that evening with many more bruises to add to the ones that they gave one another. "Assemble on the sides of the mats."

Kirk shook off the hands and words that people placed on him in pity or sympathy, looking to where Vahl'Sai was watching to make sure that Lore and Mack walked to different sides of the mats. She soon turned her jade eyes on him, catching the movement as he wiped at his upper lip to remove the drying blood. She stepped up before him without a word, the tips of her long fingers guiding his head up to look at the injury.

"You don't look to need medical attention, however, I insist you sit out and allow yourself to recuperate until later in the class so that you are fully capable of completing your assessment," Vahl'Sai said with authority as she turned his head from side to side so that she could fully view the injury.

"Fine by me," Jim agreed easily before he turned to head toward where Uhura and Bones were standing to the side, having rushed to their feet as soon as Mack's fist had connected with Jim's face. Vahl'Sai turned toward the seated council members, Spock standing to the side with his hands behind his back. Clearly they didn't feel any need to step into the affairs of her class and she was relieved for that. When the Cadets all moved out of the way to sit along the four sides of the mat corners Spock stepped forward from where he had been standing near Pike, nodding to Vahl'Sai as he moved to stand on one side of the long rectangular span of mats while Vahl'Sai walked more slowly to her side.

"Commander Spock will be assisting in your assessments today, show him your respect," Vahl'Sai said in a booming voice, her bright green eyes flicking over the people that sat around her. She stood roughly in the center of the mats, looking around herself to see that it was fairly even on either side of her. "All cadets to my left from this point will be tested by Commander Spock, and all Cadets on my right will be tested by myself. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Commander!"

"Are there any questions?"

She faintly saw a hand rise up above all the other heads to her right, causing her to pause before looking over to where Cadet Kirk sat at the end of the line of students, looking completely relaxed with a smear of blood still lingering below his nose.

"Yes, Kirk?"

"Could you and Commander Spock give us a demonstration of what we're to expect?" he asked evenly, a small grin tilting his lips. She refrained from raising an eyebrow at him, knowing that it would be pointless since he would only mirror the movement. Instead, she turned to the Admirals, seeing that Pike seemed pleased to hear the question.

"I think that would be a wonderful idea, Commander Spock?"

"Of course, Admiral Pike," Spock agreed easily, looking over to Vahl'Sai. She nodded her head simply, moving to give Spock space to stand in the center of the mats with her. Whispered excitement fell through the room, the cadets surrounding the mats shifting in their places, watching the two carefully. Vahl'Sai could make out only a couple of that the cadets were saying before she placed her full attention on the male across the floor from her.

Neither looked ready to fight, they weren't standing in any kind of a fighting stance, but were simply watching the other carefully, gauging their strengths and their weaknesses for the first time. Vahl'Sai knew that she was stronger than the Vulcan, but she was unfamiliar with how they fought and did not know what to expect of him.

Vahl'Sai made the first move.

Ducking low to the ground, she dove at Spock's legs, throwing him off as he moved swiftly to the side to avoid getting jabbed in the leg by her knuckles. Vahl'Sai placed her palm flat on the ground and used that arm to hold herself as she kicked out from her low stance and knocked against the back of his left knee, sending him down. The quick movements that she had taken spurred Spock into movement, the two of them quickly moving into a flurry of motion.

They caught on quick to one another's movements, learning the moves that were to be expected of them. Vahl'Sai knew right away that Spock went for her neck quite often, something that she was already very cautious of because of the animals and creatures on her planet that killed their prey by snapping the neck or cutting the jugular. Spock quickly learned that she did not have a low limit for flexibility. She nearly clipped him a couple of times by spinning her body with one foot on the ground, the other swinging up from behind her to nearly hit his shoulder or head. He also took notice of the constant use of her legs and feet.

Even as they strived to win, put the other down, they we left at a standstill of power, limited only to the use of human fighting skills. Had they been using Vulcan and Sahvarian fighting styles, it was hard to think of who the victor might be.

**There will be a small amount of fighting in the next chapter, but I'm not going to drag out an entire match between them. Just for those who wanted to know what it would be like for them to fight one another. They finally met! It's took five chapters, but they met! Vahl'Sai's life style is going to become more incorporated in the story, so you're going to be learning new things about her race that makes Jim want to match them, too. Hope you liked the update and I hope to get many reviews! I love getting your feedback **


	6. Beneath the Exoskeleton

**Bare These Bones**

**Beneath the Exoskeleton**

Spock had noticed as soon as he saw Vahl'Sai for the first time that her body was built for survival of elements. She was long, lean, and compact. From what he knew by studying the Sahvarian race the people were built for hunting; they had a much more animalistic nature compared to the other races. He had not seen anything about Sahvanah visually, only knowing from reading, but he did know that the wilderness of the planet could kill an untrained hunter in a day. The creatures and elements were harsher than anything on Earth, Vulcan or otherwise. Because of the ways that Sahvarian's must live, they are deadly. They lived up to the name of 'the predators'.

Vahl'Sai was no different. He could tell that she was holding back on him, never kicking or jabbing anywhere near as hard as a she could. If she truly wanted, she could have him on his back before anyone in the class could realize. Instead, she was able to easily block and strike, never once slowing down. Her green eyes didn't wander from him, intent on catching every move that he made. She wouldn't miss even a twitch of a muscle.

Catching a hold of her cloth covered wrist, he was able to twist her arm behind her back but was forced to release it when she bent forward slightly, bringing her leg backward and kicking him in the back of his shoulder. They moved apart, but she wasn't going to give him time to adjust and swung her leg up. Instead of taking the chance to kick him in the head, which would have left him incapacitated for the remainder of the day, she pressed her calf against the side of his head and pushed, throwing him off balance.

Using his forearm, he was able to manipulate the movement of her leg, swinging it from above his shoulder to below it, catching it under his arm as he remained kneeled on the ground. Vahl'Sai's eyes narrowed as he pulled, drawing her to the ground as well. Several of the students gasped as she fell into a split, but the movement was natural and she didn't even flinch.

One of the advantages that she had over Spock was that she was much more lithe and fluent than him. Twisting around, she brought her other leg up to push on his chest, throwing them apart as she continued with her twist to end up on her feet. When he looked into her eyes, they were narrowed down until he could see barely a dot of black where her pupil was. She looked feral.

"Enough," Pike called out, clearly seeing that the fight wasn't going to be moving much past the point that it was at. Vahl'Sai straightened immediately, her muscles uncoiling and her eyes moving over to the Admiral. "We might not have time to assess the class if you two keep going, so we'll leave this one at a draw."

"Yes, Admiral Pike," the said simultaneously. Vahl'Sai glanced over to Spock briefly, catching the dark brown as they darted over to her as well, before the both turned away and moved to their side of the room, the cadets that they would be assessing moving to form a circle around each Commander. They were whispering and gossiping already, speaking in hushed, quick words about what they had just seen. Sahvarian's were able to process and think as quickly as a Vulcan could, but they were taught to fight from a young age and knew just about every attack one could think to do.

Jim Kirk was grinning like the cat that had caught the canary, looking over to Bones and Uhura. They each looked as equally fascinated at what had just taken place, but weren't going to give Jim the satisfaction of knowing such a thing. He was going to be fighting against Spock for his evaluation, and he couldn't be more pleased. Throughout the training sessions with Vahl'Sai he had never won against her, but he knew better what to expect from someone who was stronger than him.

Hours later, the last of the Cadets that were shuffling their way back toward the changing rooms, some bloodied, some bruised and all of them sore. Neither Commander had taken it easy on them, beating them to the ground while still testing them carefully. Vahl'Sai often took the cadet's to the ground immediately after she knew all that she needed to, while Spock actually let the try to take him down. No one succeeded. Vahl'Sai was sporting a deep blue bruise on her right cheekbone that was fading away more and more every moment. Spock had gotten an elbow to his jaw that gave him a faint green bruise, but aside from that neither Commander was injured.

Jim lay on the mats, looking up at the ceiling as he huffed for air. He had still gotten his ass kicked by Spock, but he was able to last much longer than he had when he got into it with him on the bridge of the _Enterprise_. Spock's hand removed from his neck, where he had short of grand slammed him into the floor, and looked at the younger man with a sense of approval. They hadn't exactly become the best of friends since the time that Spock Prime had butted in, but they were as close to it as a Vulcan and a Human could get.

"You surprised me, Captain," Spock finally chose to say, getting a splitting grin from Kirk. Offering him a hand up, they clasped each other's wrists and Spock easily pulled the blonde to his feet, although slightly unsteadily. They looked over when there was a resounding thud, seeing that Vahl'Sai had just flipped Cadet Mack, the same one that had cracked Kirk in the nose, and slammed him onto his back with a knee moving to his throat to keep him down and end the round.

"Ow," Kirk mumbled to himself, wondering if the other man would still be functional. Vahl'Sai moved her knee from his throat and looked down at him carefully, speaking in hushed, gentle tones. The cadet made incoherent noises that left the woman above him sighing. Kirk had to repress a laugh when she had to motion the medical team over, Bones joining them, and have the man moved to a gurney to take him off. She hadn't broken anything, but he was stunned to the point that he couldn't move and the air had been knocked from his lungs.

"That may have been overkill," Pike said in greeting as he approached the Sahvarian, getting a discrete smirk from her. It wasn't allowed for Cadet Kirk, the Captain, to get back at the other man because he would get into serious trouble for fighting with another Starfleet member, but that didn't mean his Commander couldn't rough them up when she got the chance.

"I have not a clue what you are referring to," she answered back, getting a chuckle from the older man.

"It was a good class, Commander," he complemented before turning to look over to where Spock was speaking with the Captain, one standing leisurely while the other remained as regal and brisk as ever. "I have a feeling that your class enjoyed your spat with Commander Spock most of all."

"Spat?" she asked curiously, looking down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Quarrel, match, fight."

"I see," she said, nodding her head. Even though she said she understood Pike was amused to see the underlying confusion to human terms.

When looking at Vahl'Sai, it was hard to not feel both intimidated and interested. Standing over the height of most human females at six feet and still growing, her snow white hair was pulled taut at the back of her head in a professional, twisted bun, the paleness contrasted with the dark copper of her skin tone. The striking, emerald green eyes looked human enough, but the intensity of their colour reminded people of a cat's, holding the same cunny mind and deadly grace as well.

Pike had seen Vahl'Sai when she first arrived at the academy, he remembered the day as perfectly as though he was watching a recorded film over and over, reliving it. The sight of the skittish, strong woman that stood out with white hair and tan skin, wearing a red cadet uniform as she tugged at the skirt and constantly tried to hide herself away, nearly broke his heart.

Her Uncle had refused to send anyone with her.

Standing by herself, she was quite literally alone.

It was hard not to grow close to the young woman, even though she was nearly the same age as him—as Sahvarians age drastically slowly—and take on a bit of a fatherly role. He knew that she didn't have her true parents anymore, she had never even met them, and he wished that he could help in some way. It was the more sentimental side that took over when he was always dealing with her in the past. He was even there throughout her many English lessons, often striking up random conversations with her to slowly help ease her into the strangeness of the new words and grammar.

Only a month into being at the academy and she had come stumbling into his office, her face flushed as she cried, hysterical Sahvarian words passing her lips as she fell into one of the seats in front of his desk. It was at that moment that he learned how tightly knit her race was; a child never parted with a parent no matter how old they grew. They would leave home and move on to their own lives with their own family, but never did they go a day without craving hearing a mother's voice from when it would lull them to sleep as an infant.

Without a mother, she never had that contact. Her uncle was cold, and uncaring toward her. He despised her very existence. She received the love that her parents were supposed to give her through friends, and she didn't even have them anymore.

Sahvarians have major separation issues.

Looking at her now, he could still see that crying foreigner curled into his side, whimpering words he did not know. However, she was no longer the first thing he saw. Now, as he looked to her, the first thing that his eyes caught on to was the tall stance she kept, the look of iron in her eyes and a pride on her shoulders that was great and weightless. She smiled and laughed, bearing her fangs as she never had in the past. It took him months to coax her into acting even a semblance of natural.

He could still see that she was in a slightly depressed state because of the fact that everything was so different. She would never admit it, sometimes even strongly deny it, but she missed her home and longed to return. In the beginning, she had asked countlessly when she would get to return, but soon that had dwindled down and he almost never heard her mention Sahvaria anymore.

"Tired?" Pike asked as he watched Vahl'Sai roll her shoulder as though the muscles were sore.

"Hardly," she answered in a low drawl, her accent sounding more Spanish than he had heard in a while.

"You might want to start on those evaluations, then," he answered, smirking at the look that she shot him.

Soon, the room had emptied out and Vahl'Sai moved to check that everyone had already departed, no one left inside of the change rooms. Spock had left with Pike, students slowly trailing out of the room because of a paranoia that they would get in trouble with the strict Commander. At least Vahl'Sai had a sense of humour. Kirk sat out in the courtyard with McCoy, one of the two still reading a PADD while the other smirked at the women walking by in their short skirted uniforms.

"I think that she would have won," McCoy finally said after a couple of minutes, causing Kirk to pause and glance over to the man at his side. "Commander Vahl'Sai, I mean. I think she would have won if Admiral Pike hadn't called it a tie."

"Really?" Kirk asked curiously, his eyes igniting with mischief. "I wonder how Spock _feels_ about that."

"She looks shorter when farther away," McCoy said in a thoughtful voice, looking toward the doors that they had stepped out of only minutes before. Kirk glanced up before directing his eyes completely to where Vahl'Sai was walking along the path of stone, leading to the steps. She had her stride reduced as Admiral Pike walked at her side, still slow with recovery. She was taller than Pike, actually, and Kirk snorted in amusement at the sight.

"Still freakishly tall for a woman," Kirk answered back, watching as Vahl'Sai offered Pike to lean on her shoulder as they descended the steps to the courtyard. "You'd think that a species basically designed to kill and destroy wouldn't be so gentle."

"I think she sees him as a father, someone close to her away from home."

As though she was listening to their conversation, Vahl'Sai glanced over to them for a moment, the fading sunlight catching her poison green eyes. Her pupils constricted to the point of near invisibility against the still bright light, making it appear as though there was nothing but green iris. In the sun, she looked like she was truly in her element. Her bronzed skin seemed to glow and her white hair took on a fiery glow.

"You're staring."

"Shut up, Bones."

**Wow, been a while. I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated until I started to finish and edit this chapter. I didn't even remember a lot of the stuff that I had put in it, it was like I was readying a new story myself **** Well, sorry it took so long but I hope you all liked the new chapter and I'll try not to take so long with the next one! Hope to hear from all you wonderful readers.**


	7. The Brand I Bear

**Bare These Bones**

**The Brand I Bear**

Night had fallen over the campus, the students hidden away in their own dorms, other dorms or sneaking through the halls with hopes of not getting caught. The night was cool, the air crisp and refreshing. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon was half-full as it hung above the world. Vahl'Sai could see it through the window of the gymnasium, between the silhouettes of her feet. Resting on her forearms, she had lifted her body into a form of headstand before lowering her feet down to arch her back, cracking the joints in the process. Wearing no shoes, she was able to flex her feet into an arch to make a mock circle with how close her feet were to her head.

Sighing in relief, her back popped pleasantly in several places as her spine was stretched and curved. She could feel her uniform shirt slide down along her stomach from the position, her undershirt gliding down with it. The cool air inside the gym brushed against her taut stomach and she resisted the urge to shiver. Taking a deep breath, she pushed up with her arm muscles, thrusting her legs back up into the air and raising her body onto her hands all in one move, her momentum aiding in the lift.

Her arms burned at the excessive need to hold up her body weight, but it was such a good burn. After holding herself back when fighting humans for so long, it was amazing to use training techniques from her home planet to get back into her own rhythm. Fighting with Spock had been a great relief on her pent up energy, but she still didn't use as much as she would when fighting on her own planet. Even just _living_ on her own planet.

Pushing up again, her body lifted up onto her fingertips this time, the ten digits holding strong as her weight bore down on them. Her shirt hiked lower until it was resting below her breasts, baring the marks that matched the ones on her arms and snaking around to her back as well. Her shoulders began to tremble and she decided that she had let the blood rush to her face enough, allowing her body to fall backward so that she was arching as her feet touched the ground before her torso lifted up to stand her straight once more, her shirt falling back into place.

"That was impressive," an indifferent voice said from the doorway, drawing Vahl'Sai's attention over her shoulder to where Spock was standing, his hands behind his back as he stood uniformly. "Are Sahvarians all so limber?"

"It is a learned trait," she answered, rolling her shoulders to hear the satisfied crack that came from each joint at the rotation. "I am surprised to see you here, Commander Spock. May I help you with something?"

"It is about Cadet Kirk," Spock said as he entered the room, as though the conversation had somehow been an invitation to him. "Although I do not doubt your abilities as an instructor, Cadet Kirk seemed to have used techniques that I did not see any other cadet using during evaluations." Vahl'Sai blinked slowly before sighing, her anger sparking in her chest but her mind refusing to act upon it.

"Cadet Kirk requested a couple of weeks ago that I teach him after school, giving him extra classes," she admitted, turning to face the other Commander fully. "He is a very persistent man and I'll admit that I half agreed to get him to finally stop talking." Spock quirked an eyebrow and Vahl'Sai moved to stand before him so that it didn't seem like they were speaking across a room to one another. It wasn't difficult to hear—they both had extraordinary hearing, so it wasn't any kind of feat. No, it was merely polite.

"And the other half?"

"He told me that he wanted the extra lessons because he had made a bet to a friend that he could beat him in a fight. A friend that is a Vulcan." Her anger bled through into her tone and Spock knew that she had not known of his participation in the evaluations. "I assure that Cadet Kirk will be making up for his transgressions very soon." The fanged smile that she gave Spock would have been unsettling to an average human being, but Spock found the canines curious.

"May I inquire on one more subject?" Spock asked suddenly, watching as her smile turned into a calm, simple rise at the corners of her mouth. At her nod, he continued, "You were withholding full caliber today during our spar. Why?"

"I do not know how much strength to use when fighting against a Vulcan. You are much better of an opponent than any of the humans that I have fought in spars, but I still have to monitor my strength. If not, I could accidentally cause serious damage." She went quiet for a moment, looking into Spock's dark eyes. "When I first came to this academy, I had never been around people that were weaker than me. The only time I had ever concerned myself about being cautious with my strength was when dealing with children or animals. Within the first month here I accidentally hurt someone when assisting them up after they fell. I almost broke their hand because I had gripped it too hard; what was too hard for them was gentle for me."

Emotions swirled in Spock's eyes as he regarded the almost broken look that came to Vahl'Sai's face as she thought back to the past. "I never want to have to worry about doing that ever again," she continued, "So I make sure that I'm at human strength when fighting."

"Were you a warrior on you home planet?" Spock asked; the curiosity that swelled within him was too much to keep quiet. There wasn't much on Sahvarians in the system and he wanted to know as much as he could concerning her race. They were so different than anything else that he had ever heard of; it was hard not to give into the hunger for knowledge.

Vahl'Sai laughed, however, and shook her head. "I suppose, in a sense. I was not permitted to be in the battles of my planet, but I trained and fought with the warriors none the less. I did not enjoy the home life of many women on my planet, and without a mate I had no reason to stay at home. However, compared to this planet even just living can turn you into a warrior. It's not safe in my world, you see; even going out on a walk into the woods could kill you."

"I see why the Federation is reluctant to let many Starfleet members travel there," Spock said thoughtfully.

"Yes. I hear they are trying to set up safeguards, but it is difficult. And my planet is quite large, compared to Earth." Vahl'Sai stopped herself when she was about to mention that Vulcan was also much larger than Earth, before she remembered that it no longer remained. She did not wish to throw salt into the wounds, and so she wisely kept her lips shut against the words on the tip of her tongue.

Spock must have caught onto the longing buried in her tone, because he inclined his head toward her in an almost sympathetic gesture. "Will more Sahvarians be joining Starfleet?"

"I do not know," she sighed softly. "They do not inform me of what is happening as much as I would hope."

"If I may make a request?" Spock as suddenly, as though he needed to speak before he changed his mind. Cocking her head to the side, Vahl'Sai regarded the tall, dark haired man. She was always intrigued when she saw someone like herself; different from everyone else. She wondered how Spock could do it, although his heritage answered for itself.

"Of course," she answered cautiously.

"A rematch," he almost demanded. "On our own time, and we may fight how we grew up knowing."

Vahl'Sai schooled her face to stop from offending Spock, because if she hadn't than she would surely have laughed. On her planet, things such as biting and scratching her common practice; with fangs and claws her kind used them as weapons in a fight. If she had the chance to go for someone's jugular, she would take that chance.

"I think that the…savage nature of my kind could be left out for the most part. I will fight the more refined way, however," she finally agreed, bowing slightly. She knew that Vulcan's didn't shake hands, or were very reluctant to, and so she respected his wishes and kept her distance. Spock nodded, accepting the answer and turned to depart. He couldn't help but to pause in the doorway and look back toward her, remembering when he had first stepped into the dimmed gym.

Across the exposed ribs of the white haired Commander were swirling dark lines, resembling a human tattoo, and yet Spock knew somehow that they were not tattoos at all. They had appeared to almost shimmer when shadowed and he found himself awed to watch as she flexed her stomach and curved her back, focusing on the moon outside of the window. He had felt the strange, disturbing urge to trace his fingers along their patterns, and he wished to see if they continued along her back as well, as the lines twisted about on the flesh of her side before disappearing.

Vahl'Sai remained standing still as she looked toward the door that he had stepped out of, wondering about the man that was Spock. He was different from the humans and it made her feel a connection to him that she hadn't felt with others. He was an oddity here, just as she was. And now, his race was endangered. Sympathy swelled in her chest as she thought of what she would feel if her planet had been destroyed before her own eyes, but pushed it down. She doubted that Spock was one for sympathy or pity.

Glancing over her shoulder to the window lit by moonlight, she sighed softly before flipping backward into another handstand, beginning to lower and lift herself in a form of push-up. Her arms burned pleasantly from the action, and she continued to count the presses in her head.

It was near midnight when she returned to her quarters, shucking off her clothes to get ready for a shower. She preferred when she could bathe, since it reminded her more of home, but they took too long and she didn't feel like waiting for the bath to fill.

It was as she was standing beneath the torrent of water the fell from the showerhead that she allowed herself to fully relax, taking a slouched and lazy posture that she fought not to do when she was around other people on Earth, especially Commander Spock. There was something about the Vulcan and the perfection of his posture that could make even the most at ease people feel intimidated and the need to impress by straightening themselves properly.

Running her sharp nails through her hair slowly, she allowed herself to relax under the feel of the water and took the time to actually let her brain forget about Cadets and Commanders, friends and enemies and just relax. Her headaches had become more common and she had a strong feeling that it had to do with the pollution on Earth, which was not present on Sahvanah.

The next day, with no classes over the weekend, Vahl'Sai took the time to dive into the write-ups of her final evaluations, taking time in the morning to exercise in the gym before she made her way out to the stone boarder that blocked the campus yard off from the shore that the long bridge resided over. She didn't remember the name of the bridge, but she knew that it was quite old in Earth's history. The openness allowed her to feel somewhat more comfortable than her boxed in office did.

Resting her PADD on her left forearm with her fingers gently keeping it in place from the top, she tapped away with her right hand quickly, going through any notes that she had made the night of the evaluations while they were still fresh in her mind. The cool wind that blew off of the water tickled the back of her neck, a sharp contrast to the heat of the sun on her exposed, tanned skin and her black uniform.

A familiar set of footsteps echoed against her eardrums that were beginning to try Vahl'Sai's patience for the day.

"Do you ever wear anything but that black uniform?"

"Perhaps not a question a Cadet should ask his Commander," she replied in a strict tone. "Is there a reason you have sought me out today, Cadet Kirk?"

Kirk was silent for a moment and Vahl'Sai could hear the slight increase in his heart rate and almost wanted to growl in annoyance. "Did I do something wrong, Commander?"

Looking up from her PADD, the older woman met with eyes with an icy emerald stare, the pupils nearly non-existent in their contracted state. "Commander Spock brought some information to my attention last night. I also came to realize that he is the only present Vulcan at this academy." Sliding from the stone wall to rise to her opposing height of six feet, Kirk took a nervous, though discrete, step backward. "I am going to ask you a question and you will answer it with honesty. I will know if you are lying _this time._"

"Yes, Commander."

"Were you requesting my aid in fighting against Commander Spock?"

"Yes."

Putting the screen on her PADD to sleep, she turned to look Kirk directly in the eye and came to notice that she had grown again, for he was just slightly shorter than her now. "Be relieved, Cadet, for the fact that at the time in which you sought my help Commander Spock was not known to be doing the evaluations."

She had never heard a human's heart change pace so many times in one conversation.

"I wasn't trying to do anything," Kirk rushed to say as he caught up with her on her way back toward the teacher's building. "I honestly didn't know that Spock was going to be helping with the evaluations; I _did, _however, know that he can very easily kick my ass and I didn't want that to happen again. 'Cause, I mean, come on, I get on peoples nerves."

Vahl'Sai made a sound that was a mix between a hum of agreement and a growl in the back of her throat, taking Kirk slightly by surprise. The more time he spent with the woman while she wasn't teaching class, the more behaviours he noticed that were distinctly non-human. "It is to my knowledge that you knowingly provoked him into fighting with you at that time."

Kirk made a laughing scoff sound as he looked away almost abashedly. "Yea well, wasn't one of my happiest moments."

"But you did save Earth. Forgive me, Cadet Kirk, but I have evaluations to send in."

**Update, yay! I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated this until I put all my stories in order of recently updated and down, and WOW, did I realize I was being a prick and not updating a lot of my stories. Please, don't hate me!**


	8. I Dare You

**Bare These Bones**

**I Dare You**

Vahl'Sai had a new respect for her past teachers as she sat at the desk in her office, trying to ignore the pain that was beginning to envelope her head from the roots of her hair. She never knew how much work the professors had to go through during the end of a term. When she wasn't teaching classes, she was marking and sorting cadets through the different options of starships, or was organizing for the new language class she was due to start teaching the next term. Sighing softly, the Sahvarian pulled her hair from the tight bun that it had been tugged into. The curls fell down along her neck and shoulders, the strands that were usually waved holding a curl because of the tight twist she kept it in all the time.

Some of the pain in her skull receded with the now freed strands, no longer being tugged at an awkward angle. No matter how long she lived on Earth, there were just some things that her body could not adjust to. Running her fingers through her curled hair with one hand, she continued to fill out the form for one of the cadets to a starship, listing off her reasoning. Her work was interrupted a minute later when the door to her office gave off a chime, alerting her to someone wishing access to her office.

"Allow entrance," she ordered the computer, lifting her eyes from the PADD. The door slid aside to reveal Commander Spock, the science officer looking mildly curious over her appearance. "I was not expecting this visit," she admitted, rising to her feet out of respect to the other Commander.

"It was not planned," Spock returned as he approached her desk, his eyes dancing over the loose strands of hair. There were very few at the academy that had seen her with her hair out of its bun, and even less that actually remembered. Pike had seen her several times without her rigid appearance, but there had not been any cadets that were lucky enough to see the more at ease side of Commander Vahl'Sai when she had first been attending.

"What can I do for you, Commander?" she asked curiously, blinking owlishly with large jade eyes.

"A proposition," Spock began. "Concerning our…rematch." Nodding her head in understanding, Vahl'Sai tapped the screen to save what she had done before she turned it off, so that she could have her full attention on her conversation with Spock.

"What is it that you propose?" she asked as she motioned for him to sit in the seat available across from her. Spock nodded his thanks as he took the seat, watching her resume her own as she leaned back, tipping her had to one side out of natural reaction so that her hair would fall back over her shoulder and out of the way; the action also revealed several small piercing holes from earrings she had worn before starting at Starfleet. He watched the movement with interest before raising his eyes to hers once more.

"The term ends in days and many of the cadets will be leaving for the vacation period. I understand that you are not so open with your true heritage," Spock explained, once more looking over her hair. "I had belief that you would appreciate the privacy."

Vahl'Sai's eyes softened at the suggestion, her pupil's dilating slightly as her lips turned up in a smile. Although people often compared her to Spock—and his 'Vulcan tendencies'—she was also very different from him in many ways.

"Thank you, Commander, I appreciate your consideration and I would agree that during the vacation is an ideal opportunity," Vahl'Sai affirmed as she nodded her head. A curl of snowy hair fell over her shoulder, Spock's eyes snapping to the lock before he returned his attention to her eyes. She had caught the snap of his attention, but she didn't show that she cared as she continued to look to him with an appreciative gaze.

"I will contact you on a later date so schedule a time," Spock said as he rose to his feet, the white haired woman doing the same. Vahl'Sai rivalled him in height, but he was far broader than she was, and not only shoulder-wise.

Nodding her head in understanding, she felt strange for Spock to be looking over her hair so openly since it was rare for anyone to see it. "I look forward to it."

Her office was empty of any other people than herself a moment later, the locks clicking back into place behind Spock's retreating form. Tugging self-consciously on her white hair, she fell back into her chair and looked at the work scattered on her desk. She almost missed the years of being a student, when she didn't have to worry about the fate of other students. She never was cut out for teaching, even though she had taught fight classes on Sahvariah as well.

Working for an hour longer in her office, Vahl'Sai soon packed her things up and made one quick stop at her apartment/dorm to change and drop off her things before she headed back down to the large gym. Students were quickly dispersing, adamantly speaking of what they were planning for their vacation time. Vahl'Sai was relieved when they didn't pay her much attention, most students having gotten used to her presence since she had been upgraded from student to commander.

Her hair once more in its tight bun, the Sahvarian stepped into the deserted gym and paused only a couple of steps inside. Looking around, she tried to consider just what it was she should do, trying to get her energies spent for the night. Deciding, she moved for the weight room. Taking the weighted bar from the bench press, she placed fifty pounds on either side to begin with and placed the bar on the ground. Disliking the using of the bench, knowing that she could easily remove herself from beneath someone in a fight should she wind up on her back, she hefted the bar up and began doing arm curls with it, strengthening her biceps.

"_Come off your arrogance, Vahl'Sai," Ranza said as he crouched on the high standing stone wall, a yard above Vahl'Sai's head. "You cannot jump the distance. Even I pull myself up." He was issuing a challenge, though he may not have known that he was. Vahl'Sai, still standing on the ground below, smirked up at him with a grin full of teeth._

"_I will wager that if I can jump the wall without pulling myself up or using any other assistance, you have to allow me to use you in my demonstrations for the younger ones," she stated defiantly. Cocking her head to the side, Ranza sighed loudly before agreeing. Nodding her head, Vahl'Sai turned and made her way away from the wall, hearing Ranza's mumblings about her behaviour._

_Turning sharply on heel once she was a sufficient distance from the stone wall, she bounced on the balls of her bare feet before taking off at a dead run, not bothering for a slow start. Ranza moved out of her path to give her enough room, but there was doubt in his grey eyes that she could actually be able to make the leap. Once she was close enough, Vahl'Sai pushed with all of the power in her legs, simultaneously twisting her body around as her back arched. The ground became distant as she soared over the wall, the sky and trees the only thing that she could see, before she flipped over to once more land on her feet in the shallows stream on the other side._

_Ranza swore loudly as he slammed his heel down on the stone, the hard material luckily holding against his angered assault. Laughing for her victory, Vahl'Sai kicked the water in the stream as she spun on the spot with celebration. It was a small victory, but a victory none the less._

Vahl'Sai was beginning to perspire when she finally dropped the weights back onto the ground, the floor shaking slightly at the impact but built with the intent to withstand the treatment. The pains of missing her home great within her chest as she leant down to retrieve the bar and place it back where it belonged. Glancing to the wall on the far side of the room, covered entirely in mirrors, her green eyes took in her form.

So unlike who she used to be. Her hair was always brushed through now, pulled up and out of sight. Her dark skin seemed to have become much paler since she had first arrived on Earth and the dark clothes did nothing to help. Long sleeves and long pants, high collared shirt and well worked shoes. She felt like she was being swathed in material and could barely breathe.

Looking down at herself briefly before returning her eyes to the mirror she quickly stepped away from the bench-press and pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head, exposing the markings along her forearms that had grown darker over the years. Next, she slipped off her shoes and placed them beside her shirt on the bench nearby. Contentedly cracking her toes that were now free of their constricting prison, she rose up onto the balls of her feet and stretched her arms up until her spine popped and cracked in several places.

She felt slightly more at home this way.

Her arms were long, though slender, but taught with muscle. Even without flexing the curve of definition could be seen in both of her arms and along her shoulders. The tank-top she was wearing kept her shoulder blades visible and showed the sharp angle of the bone.

By the time Vahl'Sai had finished her workout, it was after hours and students would already be in their dorms. Deciding to forgo pulling on her shirt again, since her exposed skin had a fine layer of sweat on it anyway, she simply slipped her shoes on and tossed her shirt over one shoulder for the trek back to her room.

However, when she returned to her building there were students huddled about on the bottom floor chattering excitedly as they tried to see around each other to something going on further inside. Vahl'Sai could clearly hear the sounds of a struggle and quickly pulled on her uniform shirt once more, covering up her markings. Whistling sharply through her fingers, several cadets took off running while others turned to her, scared.

Stepping through the parting students with an irritated frown on her face, Vahl'Sai could see, surprisingly, that it was two women that were fighting further up the hall. "Enough!" she yelled, her voice carrying throughout the hallway and down several others. Some students leaned out of their dorms at the familiar voice and curious to see what she would do. The two girls stumbled apart, their hair a mess and one looking on the verge of tears. Vahl'Sai recognized her as Cadet Moore. "You two, remain where you are, everyone else remove yourself from the premises. Back to your rooms, wherever that may be. Go!" she yelled, not in the mood to show any kindness toward the lingering Cadets.

"Comman-"

"I will not hear it!" Vahl'Sai snapped, turning deadly green eyes on the two women that flinched and directed their eyes to the floor. "Something must be in the water here because was it not only days ago that you both bore witness to what happened when your peers fought on school grounds?"

"Sorry, Commander," the mumbled together, both glared at the other afterword.

Growling lowly, the women once more snapped their eyes back to the ground at the clearly dangerous sounds that their Commander was issuing. "Come with me," she ordered, turning her back to them but keeping an ear out for them. "Do not speak a word, or look anywhere besides in front of you. I will not have you two acting like children."

She only took them outside, where there were no students sure to be eavesdropping through their doors or around hallway corners.

"Now, Moore, you first. What happened?"

"She said that Sahvarians were savages and did not belong on Earth!" she began in a desperate tone. "I was trying to defend you, but she said that you were just meant to kill and nothing more-"

"You stupid bitch, that's not what I said!" the brunette beside her yelled, cutting off Cadet more as she looked at her with a dark glare.

At the second growl both girls paled and looked to the ground once more, trying not to look at the angered Commander. Vahl'Sai's eyes were narrowed and her jaw was set with her fangs clearly visible. The rumble that came from her chest left them unsettled and reminded that she was not human; no human could make such a sound.

It was the sound of a beast, just dying to be freed of a confining prison.

"If I have to stop either of you one more time, this will be taken to the Board and you will have to fight it out there, while it will be placed on your record. Am I clear?" Waiting for them to affirm her warning, she continued, "Moore, though the words you say in my defence are appreciated they are not needed. If you hear something of the sort, come to me or to one of your other Commanders." Nodding her head silently, Moore still did not look up. "Now, what do you have to say?"

"I was _not_ saying that you were just meant to kill. I did say that I don't think your species belong on Earth, considering the violent tendencies, I didn't get anything more than that out before she started _screaming_ at me in the middle of the hallway!" Once glance at Vahl'Sai and the Cadet lowered her voice and softened her tone. "I swear, I never said that you were just meant to kill but I admit that I wouldn't feel safe with Sahvarians in Starfleet."

"Thank you for your honesty," Vahl'Sai said calmly. "Now, the two of you need to learn that no one will have the same opinion on a matter. I am sure that there are many students and even Commanders that do not wish for my presence here, or the presence of my kind, but that does not mean that a fight must begin. Keep opinions to yourselves. Because I am not in the mood to deal with this right now, as it is late and we all have classes tomorrow, I will leave you both with a warning but only one. There is no second strike."

"Yes, Commander," both women mumbled before she dismissed them. Standing outside alone, she let out a great sigh. She was much too young herself to be speaking with grown adults as though they were children.

Vahl'Sai's irritated state was still obvious to the people of Starfleet the next morning, all of the Cadets parting in the halls whenever she was walking passed as the towering female passed through with a set to her face that left her with a pissed off visage. Luckily, her classes were not busy now that the tests had already been run and the students were left in a limbo of not knowing their fate.

"Not looking so hot, Commander," Kirk said as he moved over to her while she was supervising the Cadets practicing the skills they had been taught over the semester. Dulled green eyes looked over to him a moment before siding back toward the mass of red uniforms. "Oh, come on, what's wrong?"

"Not your concern, Cadet Kirk. Please return to the class," she ordered calmly, a slight tick in her jaw that Kirk could see clearly. Staring at her a moment more, he realized that she was down-right _pissed._ He hadn't seen someone bottle up anger the likes of hers in a long time and with what he knew she was possible of doing he almost found it concerning.

Backing off, he wisely returned to his sparring partner.

At the end of her classes, Vahl'Sai had said few words and made fewer actions. The students knew better than to further press her into a bad mood and instead wandered off quite quickly once they were dismissed from class. Remaining where she was, Vahl'Sai found that she didn't want to wander out into the halls, hearing the insufferable noises of the Cadets or the wretched stink of fumes and technology.

"Vahl'Sai."

Looking up to the doors of the room, Pike stood at the entrance.

"Come on, I want to show you something."

**I decided to give a bit of a peek into her life on Sahvaria, though it was only a small one I admit. I updated my other story 'Arise' so I felt that it was only fair to update this one as well. **


	9. Liberation

**Liberation**

Sitting in the passenger seat of Pike's car, Vahl'Sai felt quite out of place. She had to push her seat all the way back so as to sit comfortably but even then there was an extremely cramped and enclosed feeling about riding in the car. It was nearly silent, a newer model, but she could distinctly hear the purr of the engine as soon as Pike started it up. He kept the windows rolled down so as to give her some air, blowing at her hair and face.

"I guess there is going to have to be a lot of changes made if more Sahvarians come to Earth, to join Starfleet. You can hide it pretty well, but I can still see the built up aggression from lack of proper exercise. We don't have everything that you need here, not like it is at home. So, instead, we'll just have to improvise." Pike was saying as he drove, pulling off the main part of the road to where she could see they were driving into a forest reserve. A Protected Park. "I'm sure you can find your way back."

Against her will, Vahl'Sai laughed. She had once told him of her trainer, her teacher, who had dumped her in the woods over a decade before and told her that only the best could find their way home. Her uncle was furious at her teacher, but she had found her way back within a couple of days and was more peaceful and well-behaved than she had been in a while.

"This is the best that I can get for you in the city. You're going to have to find your way through the park and then through the lower part of the city to get back to Starfleet on time. I'll leave you with your communicator in case something happens at Starfleet, but you're not to use it to contact me. I'll contact you."

Nodding her head with a smile, Pike grinned back as he pulled the car to a stop at the end of the path, a small parking section that was abandoned because of the late hour. They both piled out of the vehicle and Vahl'Sai shook her head in amusement.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, moving forward to embrace the elder human. Pike chuckled and returned the embrace.

"I'll expect you back before dawn," he cautioned. It was already sunset, but he knew that she could easily complete the task. "Have a nice run," he finished, turning back to his car.

"Pike," she called, stopping him. When he turned back she had removed her over shirt so that she was standing in her tank-top. Looking down, she had already toed off her shoes and was leaning to collect them. "Please, take these back for me. Place then in my office if it's best convenient, you know how to get in." Placing her things in the back, Pike glanced back as he was sliding into the driver's seat to glimpse the markings along her arms, the winding black birthmarks darker than they had been when he first saw them.

She watched as he disappeared out of the park she turned her eyes toward the forest and took in a deep breath, finally having barely any hint of technology. Digging her toes into the rocky dirt, Vahl'Sai smirked to herself before she abruptly took off running. Her white hair soon came loose and was blowing behind her. There were faint welts of blue and purple along her skin from where they had been smacked by tree branches or the odd vine. She was ever aware of the dark as it closed in, the trees taking on a deep shadow that enveloped her. Adjusting her eyes to the dark, Vahl'Sai continued on without slowing her pace. Making sure that her breathing was regulated, she could feel the beginning of a burn in her lungs as the trees thinned out near the end of the park. Full dark had dropped before then, the temperature beginning to disappear along with it.

Stopping at the edge of the forest, Vahl'Sai could still hear some people moving about in their cars. In the far off distance, she could see the Academy and the waters that surrounded it. Smiling, she took in a deep breath and allowed herself to bask in the nature that she was so far from most of her life now. Running her fingers through her hair and her toes through the grass, Vahl'Sai laughed heartily and took off once more.

The streets were far harder to run on in her bare feet, the pavement making it rough but her feet had endured many decades of dirt, rock and stone. Rough and smooth. Keeping to back streets so as not to draw attention to herself, Vahl'Sai could tell that it had been at least two hours since the sun at set. That would mean that she was making perfect time and would be back at the Academy long before the sun was to break the horizon.

The edge of the city wasn't as populated, more homes than anything else and it was a peaceful jog for Vahl'sai. Though the smell of pollution was stronger now, she didn't allow herself to care as she continued to sprint her way past the lights of houses, or barking dogs that could scent the unfamiliar predator in the vicinity. Her white hair began to stick to her skin from the sweat collecting on her forehead and neck. Grinning out of the sheer pleasure of running once more, Vahl'Sai almost laughed as she took a sharp turn that scraped at the rough skin on the bottom of her feet, though left them without a scratch.

Turning to use the back alleys made it so that there was less interference from other living things, but there were more obstacles that she needed to avoid. An alleyway ending suddenly was one of them, but she simply hefted herself onto the roof of the building using a fire-escape and jumped off on the other side, no brick walls in her way this time.

She made sure to pay attention to her communicator at all times, knowing that if she wasn't focused on it then she may miss the quick chirp of an incoming transmission.

Leaping over a fence behind a residence building, Vahl'Sai's stomach tightened in anticipation of more to come. It had been too long since she had shared the full excitement of the burn that was caused by running and jumping over things that were meant to be passed.

She was sure that she started a couple of people when she had to dart across the street, putting her on the same side as the Academy. She was sure she had heard the blare of a car horn, but she knew that she was moving too quickly for them to recognize her in any way. It wouldn't do for people to go around saying that they saw a Sahvarian running through the streets with no foot-wear and only an undershirt to cover her upper body. Not very professional.

Of course, she couldn't just walk through the front doors of the academy, so she was going to have to do the next best thing and jump the back fences; which also meant that she needed to add some time onto the run so that she could circle around the property and make it to the back. Sunrise was approaching, but she knew that she would have at the very least an hour to spare after she got back. Counting it through in her head, she darted along the fence-line silently.

Ducking below some of the overhanging trees, Vahl'Sai leapt up to take hold of one of the branches and hoisted herself up with the momentum. Standing on the thick branch, she took a moment to catch her breath as her eyes roamed over the yard of the Academy. Of course there were no students out, as was the rules, but she knew that the rules hardly ever stopped some of the students from doing what they actually wanted. Some even strived to break as many rules as they could.

Leaping from the tree, Vahl'Sai allowed herself to free-fall for a moment before tucking and rolling along the ground. It was best that she wore black clothes for this night, considering she was sure she would have stains of many different kinds covering the expanse of her clothing.

Vaulting over the back fence of the Academy, the Commander made her way for the gym instead of her rooms. She needed to clean herself off before even thinking of travelling through the halls of the dorms. Her legs were burning by the time she stepped into the dark entrance of the gym, and she could feel the slight tremble that was caused from running so long. It had been much too long, and she knew that it was thanks to Pike she was able to bleed off her irritation and high strung emotions.

Instead of bothering with the lights, Vahl'Sai kept her eyes focused through the dark and walked calmly through to the change rooms for the women, stripping off her shirt as soon as she had stepped inside. Placing her communicator on the bench outside of the showers, she proceeded to strip until she was bare of sweat drenched clothes. Her arms shook with the movements, her adrenaline still racing but no longer having something motivating it.

Turning the water of the shower to cold, she fell to sit on the tiled floor beneath the spray. Rolling her shoulders and listening to the cracks that the joins issued, she allowed the cold water to calm her blood and relax her body once more.

Only when the trembling in her arms and legs stopped did she finally stand and begin to wash herself of the sweat and grime, turning the water to a more decent temperature. Mud ran off of her feet, revealing the sores that had appeared from the pavement in the city.

When she finally stepped from the shower, dawn had arrived.

Pulling a new uniform from her locker, Vahl'Sai used her long nails to comb through her wet hair until the tangles were long gone, leaving the damp tresses to curl freely over her right shoulder when she decided not to immediately place it in a bun. Only when she was sure that the cafeteria would be open for the morning meal did she leave the gym, her hair pulled away into a looser version of her usual bun, hoping to soon silence her stomach's insistent grumbling.

"So, have a nice night?" Pike asked as he intercepted her along the way, falling into step behind her. He could immediately see the tension had drained away from her shoulders and her eyes appeared more awake and alert.

"Perfect," she answered, smiling as she glanced over to him with forest green eyes. "Thank you, Admiral Pike," she added on with a slight bow of her head. Pike just shook it off as they two entered the cafeteria and headed over to get their meals for the morning. Vahl'Sai knew better than to eat an excessive amount so soon after using so much exertion and instead picked out a bottle of water and several pieces of fruit.

"Shouldn't you eat more than that?" Pike asked as she bit into an apple, showing a flash of fangs in the process.

"Not yet," she answered after swallowing, moving to lean against the wall as he typed in what he wanted from the machine, her eyes moving over the students that were already mingling throughout the room. She could hear Kirk among them, but before she had the chance to spot him another person drew her attention.

"Adirmal Pike, Commander Vahl'Sai," Spock greeted the two as he approached, his hands behind his back with perfect posture.

"Ah, Commander Spock," Pike said with a smile as he turned around briefly while waiting for his food. "A good morning, I hope?"

"Affirmative, Admiral."

"It is good to see you, Commander," Vahl'Sai greeted, unsure of how else to respond to him. She was unaccustomed to seeing people in the morning, other than Pike who often shared breakfast with her since she had become a Commander. Spock couldn't help but to stare for a moment because there was surely something different about her since he had seen her in her office two days before.

Vahl'Sai didn't notice the stares, however, because she had moved aside to allow Pike to collect his food and head toward the same table that they had occupied every morning. "Care to join us, Commander?" Pike called over his shoulder, getting a slight pause from the Vulcan before he followed after them casually.

Vahl'Sai took the seat across from Pike as she had done every morning, finishing her apple. One thing that pike would never understand was that she ate the entire apple, seeds and stem included. She never bothered with tossing something away that was perfectly edible, as it was not her custom. She did the same with oranges and pears as well, eating the skins and cores. When he asked how she could eat something like an orange peel, she answered with there were much worse things on her planet.

Spock noticed as well, and found it curious that she didn't even seem to care that the behaviour was odd. She knew that it was not something humans did, but her people knew better than to waste food that was perfectly edible. Even more so for her in concern to human produce because of her strengthened immune system. He wished there was more that he could discover about her species, but even for him the information on Sahvarians was mostly classified due to the delicate and fresh relationship between Sahvaria and Starfleet. So far, the only person who knew the most about her kind was Starfleet's leading medical officer, and that was only for emergencies in which she needed medical attention.

"Any plans for the two week away period? Knowing you two, you'll have your work done within the first few days," Pike mentioned, laughing into his coffee mug while Vahl'Sai cocked her head to the side.

"I have nothing planned in accordance to a vacation," Vahl'Sai answered, getting a look from Pike at the sentence. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was not Vulcan, but her white hair, dark skin and emotional green eyes were a vivid reminder. "However, Commander Spock and I have planned for a…rematch," Vahl'Sai added on, glancing over to the Vulcan as though to make sure that 'rematch' was the correct term.

Pike let out a faint laugh. "No offence, Commander Spock, but my money's on Vahl'Sai for the win," he laughed, leaning back in his seat as he looked between the two. Spock had taken the seat at the head of the table, to the left of Pike while he was on Vahl'Sai right.

"Money?" Vahl'Sai asked curiously, getting a shake of the head from her superior.

"Admiral Pike places a bet of money that you will win in our rematch," Spock answered, glancing over to her with deep brown eyes. Opening mouth as though to reply Vahl'Sai stopped before any sound could come free, hearing the sounds of an argument in the distance. Closing her mouth and turning her head just slightly, her eyes shifted to glance in the general direction but seemed unseeing as she focused her hearing on the loud voices.

"There's a fight breaking out in the courtyard," she finally said. "One of the participants is a Commander." Her tone almost seemed like she was musing over something unimportant. Pike frowned as he looked over her shoulder toward the doors, seeing that she was telling the truth and there was a Commander dressed in his black uniform while fighting with a female student. She looked ready to slap him. When she did, he could see Vahl'Sai flinch in her peripheral vision at the high pitched sound.

"You have remarkable hearing," Spock commented as he looked over to her, knowing that if Pike wanted them to interfere on the argument then he would have already stated so. Jade eyes turned up to him, focusing again while she seemed to tone the argument into the back of her mind. She could still hear it, but when she was no longer stressing her hearing on it she couldn't really bother to hear what was being said.

"I am sure you do as well," she retorted, looking to the curve of his ear that made him so distinctly Vulcan. Whereas others had looked to his ears in scrutiny, targeting his heritage because of the physical appearance, she was looking to them with interest. Not only had she learned of Humans so suddenly, but many other species as well which included the intelligent and emotionally reserved Vulcans.

Spock shifted under her visual surveillance. "Though Vulcans do have superior senses in regards to many other species, Sahvarians are biologically designed to have perfect senses for any scenario, am I correct?" Spock inquired, meeting her eyes again.

Vahl'Sai openly smiled, though not enough to show her canines, and Pike could see the enjoyment that she was having reflected in her eyes. "You are not incorrect," she answered smartly. "Now, it was enjoyable seeing you both, Admiral, Commander, but I must take my leave for my final classes of the day. I will be in contact with you again soon, Commander, so that we may schedule that rematch."

Without waiting another moment, Vahl'Sai snatched her peach from the table and left briskly, drawing the attention of both men as they watched her depart. She seemed to have a very specific route to take and Pike chuckled in amusement as he watched Vahl'Sai snag that back of Kirk's collar on her way past him, hauling the playboy away from the group of girls that he was fawning over and out of the room. His protests could be heard from the hall, but she had an iron grip on his collar and it was very apparent she did not wish to wait to speak with him.

"Commander! Come on, let go! This is totally manhandling!" Kirk was complaining, trying to get his Commanding officer to let go of his red uniform shirt. She finally released his collar when they had reached her office, pushing him inside none-too-gently.

"It seems that physical force is one of the only ways to gain your attention, Cadet Kirk. I apologize," Vahl'Sai said as her eyes danced with amusement.

Rubbing at his slightly sore throat, Kirk stared at her incredulously. "Somehow I doubt that. So what did you literally drag me here for?"

Motioning for Kirk to sit, Vahl'Sai balanced her peach on the corner of her desk and took her own seat as well. "I'm sure that you are aware the procedures for assessment in regards to a Captain are far more strict, but they also come through much quicker because of their importance. Not only has it been my duty to assess your ability to hold yourself in physical combat, but your reactions to such scenarios." Kirk's attention had immediately become limited to her words alone at the mention of captains.

"Has my status been put into question?"

"Not that I'm aware," she assured. "I wanted to warn you, Kirk, that your actions over the next twenty-four hours will be very closely monitored by all of your Commanding Officers. However, having taught you this whole term I believe that you have nothing to be concerned with."

Cheering as he jumped from his seat, Kirk threw his hands into the air in celebration.

"I never said you were Captain!" Vahl'Sai laughed, "Merely stated that you should not stress over the matter. And one of the women you were trying to romance between your sheets was the daughter of one of your Commanders, so it may be best to avoid such activities for the day."

Kirk froze as he tried to remember all of the women from the cafeteria, but there had been at least five of them and he wasn't sure which one she was speaking of. Chuckling again, Vahl'Sai rose from her seat and picked up a folder of paper.

"Do not strain yourself, Captain Kirk," she jested as she offered the folder to the younger. "Here, these are all of my reports and assessments pertaining to you. There is nothing against giving out the information to the person whose information it is, but I would suggest not flaunting it about to other Commanders because I doubt they would appreciate me doing so."

"Thank you," Kirk said in surprise, taking the folder from her. "But why?"

"Because you have worked hard, Kirk, even with your odd escapades and questionable attendance this term. You deserve to know the opinion of one of your Commanders."


	10. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

**Bare These Bones**

**Let Sleeping Dogs Lie**

For the first time in a long time, Vahl'Sai slept in. The Cadets had been released on a two week vacation period in which their assessments would be completed and schedules sent out for the following semester. Vahl'Sai had already received her class list for her self-defence coarse, the classes greatly reduced in size and number, as well as her linguistics class in which she was going to be teaching Sahvarian. After receiving no sleep the night before, only running back to the Academy, Vahl'Sai was impossible to wake upon the first day of the two weeks leave.

"I knew that you slept like the dead, but this is frightening," Pike said from where he stood at her bedside, seeing the twitch of a lip when she wanted to snarl at him but was too tired and still in the mindset of sleep to do so. She was lying on her stomach, one leg hanging out of the covers of her bed, with her head lying directly on the mattress and her pillow over her head to try and block out the sounds that carried through the thin walls. "Come on, up."

Prodding her shoulder with two fingers, Pike yanked his hand back like he had been burned when a deep rumbling growl vibrated through her chest, reminding him of an enraged dog. It was in moments like this that he was quite suddenly reminded that she was most definitely not human.

"Vahl'Sai, _get out of bed,_" he ordered, knowing that threatening was not going to work and poking a sleeping bear was one of the stupider options that he was choosing to ignore. So, choosing to relate to the more serious side of her, the one that had always known being ordered around by superiors, he stood with his arms crossed at her bedside while a tired green eye cracked open and rolled to look up at him from the corner of her lashes.

A faint, unhappy grumbling came from her, but she complied and reluctantly lifted herself from her bed and sat up straight as her back cracked so many times that Pike was certain every vertebrate had popped; this was made even more prominent as it was a well-kept secret that Sahvarians had almost twice as many vertebrae to allow them better flexibility. Her long white hair was a tangle around her shoulders and he could see marks on her arms from where the creases of the sheets and pillowcase had pressed to her skin, intertwining with the markings that were already covering her dark flesh. She was wearing only a pair of tight black shorts that looked more like female boxer briefs and a loosen fitting cropped white top that gave him the view of her taut stomach that still left him amazed. She was so small and compact but there were evident creases between a perfect set of abs on her stomach, subtle but still there.

"Meet me in my office when you're…yourself," Pike said as he turned to leave, hearing the faint huff that she seemed to attempt to hide before he left her to her devices and made his way to his office. At least knowing that she was awake gave him assurance that she was going to be getting ready for the day, instead of wasting it sleeping more than she actually needed.

The Sahvarian herself stared ahead at the far wall for a good couple of minutes, unsure of how to function after being poked at until she was woken up. Shaking her head as she tipped it back, she made sure that her hair fell back over her shoulders, resting between her should blades in tangled curls that she could already see herself fighting against with a hairbrush.

Forcing herself into the shower was her first step, but that didn't mean that it made it easier. Her feet were throbbing faintly from the run, but she knew that it wouldn't last for very long. Her muscles were already healing perfectly and there was barely more than a faint strain when she crouched down or flexed her thighs. Waking in the middle of the night the female warrior had drank nearly her own body weight in water, the amount of sweat that she had lost leaving her largely dehydrated. Her state of sleep and healing had reminded her body and left her feeling like a fish out of water, quite literally.

Tapping her nails on the counter of her small kitchenette, Vahl'Sai blinked sluggishly as she waited for the tea to strengthen while inhaling the scent that was wafting from the water. It had been quite a while since she had been able to sleep in so late; it was strange and had her craving the caffeine that came from the teas that she was provided with.

Just before she could take a drink of her tea her communicate called her attention, getting a hiss of annoyance from the animalistic woman before she flipped it open.

"Just making sure you didn't go back to sleep," Pike teased before hanging up on her. Sighing faintly, Vahl'Sai's eyes rolled up into her head in exasperation before she tossed the communicator back down onto the table and returned to the tea, taking in a deep gulp of the scalding liquid. Thankfully the stronger tissue on Sahvarian's prevented her from getting a burn that would have occurred had she been human.

Deciding that she had wasted enough time already, she was out the door in her uniform with her hair pulled back tight only minutes later, the warmth of the tea seeming to spread from her stomach to the rest of her body. She still felt slightly off, but one more night and that would be gone. Her body suddenly changing from an adrenaline high to crashing for ten hours had left her disoriented for the time being.

However, Pike simply laughed lightly when she entered his office, James Kirk also present and appearing to seem slightly disgruntled that he had been called in on the first day of his leave between terms. "Good afternoon, Commander, thank you for dragging yourself away from your busy schedule to see me," Pike teased with mirth in his eyes.

Kirk could tell that the woman was tired, or at least off in some way, because she was dreary in presence with her eyes not as aware and her body slower than it had been before when she had pulled him to her office. To most people, the Commander looked just as proper and awake as she usually would, but with her right now, in front of them, they could see better below the surface. She was worn and tired—she had seen better days than this one, clearly.

Muttering in a distinctively foul tone, the use of Sahvarian tongue left the two men unsure of what she had said but knowing that it more than likely would have made even Kirk blush. "Why exactly have I been called in, Admiral?"

"Because," Pike said as his face fell into a more serious role. "The council has been debating your continued role as a Commander now that we have gained enough new teachers for the term. Because you are the only one that is capable of teaching Sahvarian, they weren't able to remove you from that position."

"If I could interrupt, Admiral," Kirk said as he leaned forward in his chair. "Why are they trying to remove her?"

Looking to him, Pike realized that Kirk did not know the full details. "Commander Vahl'Sai doesn't have the training or education to actually be a Commander; she's only completed three years at the Academy. She was chosen solely because she knew the most on hand-to-hand combat and would fit in as a teacher fairly well on such short notice. Much as you became a Captain under stressful situations that weren't truly debated on when it came to proper credentials, she became a Commanding Officer just the same."

"And now they want me removed from position. Would I continue my education instead?"

"Actually, that's why Kirk's here. I've been vouching for you in the council meetings; I'm trying to get you on as a strategist on the _Enterprise._ Your survival instincts are like nothing that anyone has ever seen before and when we tested you before enrolling you in Starfleet it was for more than just your own; you react to saving anyone possible and that's what Starfleet needs, especially on a ship piloted by Mr. No-Win-Scenarios."

"Hey," Kirk protested, but didn't say more.

"A strategist?" Vahl'Sai repeated, cocking her head to the side that made her appear too much like a curious puppy. It wasn't exactly a foreign concept, but instead more that she wasn't accustomed to one person deciding on how best to survive. But like the animals they were so often compared to, they travelled in groups, packs, and would work together to keep themselves alive. For the weight of an entire star ship to be places on her shoulders, responsible for getting them out of tricky situations, it was both a thrilling suggestion and a terrifying leap should she accept.

"Personally, I would love to have you as a strategist if I had been the Captain still, but now it's mostly up to our Captain Kirk, here," Pike answered as he looked down at the man sitting across from him, the blue eyed younger looking quite startled at the responsibility.

Glancing between the two men, Vahl'Sai wasn't sure whether or not she should be relieved to have a place on a star-ship or concerned the Pike felt a reason to give her a permanent place. Was the council debating on her removal? She wouldn't be surprised, in truth, she wasn't meant to be a Commander and there were many out there that were much better suited for the position than she was. At least in education and teaching standards; she was, after all, a being that lived off of ways in which to _survive_.

"So long as I don't get my ass kicked again," Kirk jested, getting a withering look from Vahl'Sai that he simply shrugged, not caring that she wasn't so amused by his words. However, he could still see the faint trace of mirth dancing in those forest green eyes. She fondly remembered the times they had trained, when Kirk was actually able to get her to laugh when she was so soured by everything else at Starfleet.

Soon, they were walking side-by-side down the halls from the Admirals office, new forms needing to be drawn up before anything more could be done on the matter. Vahl'Sai was silent as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she now might have a permanent place on the Bridge of the _Enterprise_. Kirk continually looked to her from the corner of his eye as he tried to distinguish what she was feeling, but her face was as shielded as Spock's often was. The sheltered appearance came from very different reasoning, he knew. Whereas Vulcan's were masking their emotions, Sahvarian's were preserving their emotions for a better time in which they could be included. He knew that when Vahl'Sai was anything but happy, she would mostly hide it away, showing her positive emotions but making sure that her negative ones didn't get in the way of her life and her work.

They emerged from the building together, Vahl'Sai's pupils narrowing dangerously against the light, trying to protect her senses, while Kirk jerked sharply to shield his eyes. "So," he started as he stopped at the top of the stairs. Vahl'Sai hesitated a couple more steps down, her head turning to look at him over her shoulder. "What are you planning on doing for vacation?"

"Marking, sleeping and exercising," she answered a moment later, as though she was reluctant to tell him much more, which he could understand since they didn't very much know the other on a personal level. He was shocked in that moment when he realized that he did want to get to know this woman on a personal level, as a friend, because she was someone so unique and….alone.

"Do you want to come out with me and Bones to get a drink tonight? Celebrate the end of term?" he asked hopefully, seeing the confusion beginning to crease her features. "Oh, by Bones I mean Doctor McCoy," he added on, realizing that she had never met 'Bones' before but she knew Leonard McCoy. She looked ready to protest, her lips parting with a sorry expression coming to her eyes, but she paused and glanced over to where there were a group of male science students huddled near the fountain, laughing quite boisterously as they looked in their direction.

Kirk found himself glaring at the men before he realized and a moment later she had turned back to him with a smile on her face, wiping the glare from his in surprise.

"I would love to," she answered, her voice thick with her accent even when using the Earth tongue and slang.

"Perfect," he cheered, moving down the steps and clapping her on the back. Whereas even Spock had once jerked slightly from the force of the hit, even meant in jest, Vahl'Sai didn't budge and Kirk's hand throbbed just a bit. "Meet us at the front gates at 1850, right?" he called back over his shoulder. Stopping at the last minute, he spun around and added "And wear something other than your uniform!" before darting off to head to his and Bones' dorm to get ready and warn his friend that they were going for a drink that evening with a Commander.

The Commander herself was staring after him for a moment before she frowned and glanced down at her crisp black uniform. She didn't have a vast wardrobe, mostly because there were very few articles of clothing that fit someone of her shape. So thin and long, most clothes were either too short but thin enough, or long enough but oversized and hanging from her awkwardly. The materials themselves were mostly all uncomfortable on her skin, since she was so accustomed to the leather like material of her planet that they extracted from the trees or when they used real hide to make leather armor guards, thick and heavy on the body. Aside from wearing armor, their outfits were not overly covering, and could even be described as immodest, but they were a proud race and felt no reason to hide their bodies. Much different to how Vahl'Sai felt around the humans and other species at Starfleet.

Letting out a faint huff, she moved first to the food court to get something to eat before she headed to her room, knowing that it was going to be a struggle to figure out how to present herself while in public. She had never really left the campus for many reasons, in the beginning because she was afraid that she was going to get lost, but now it was just because she didn't want to face the scrutiny of everything past the grand walls of the Academy. Most knew her at the school, and many showed her respect even if only because she was a Commander; outside, however, she would just be any other civilian and it was slightly terrifying.

Since she had showered that morning already, she didn't need to concern herself with that, but she stripped down from her black uniform and was staring at her marked up arms with a glare. Beginning to flip through her closet, she pushed aside red and black uniforms that she couldn't wear, and a few regular black outfits that she had taken to wearing. They weren't uniform, but they looked too much like it for her to wear it without knowing she was going to get a word from Kirk on the matter of her outfit. Anything with short arms was shifted out of view on the hangers, moving on to the next item without even considering.

Moving to the back, she paused when the found a soft green shirt that she remembered receiving from Pike when she aced her English lessons, her fingers caressing the soft material with a nostalgic smile. Pulling the shirt from its hanger, she laid it out on her made bed before she snatched a pair of black pants, ones that were tight against her skin instead of loose black that she preferred—coarse, but not as rough as denim, yet not as soft as cotton. The shirt and pants covered most of her skin, much like her uniform, so she wouldn't have to concern herself with the marks on her arms while she was out with the Captain and the Doctor.

Pulling her hair down from its bun, Vahl'Sai began to run her brush through it in careful strokes, drawing free the tangles until her hair fell in loose waves and curls, twisting down her back and between her shoulder blades. Standing in front of the mirror in her washroom, she knew that there was no point in getting excessively dressed up as she had seen other females do when going out and instead carefully plaited her hair back in one tight braid against her skull, tucking the remainder beneath it so her hair appeared much shorter than it really was.

Knowing she still had hours left before she needed to leave to meet Kirk and Bones, she snatched her PADD from her desk before sitting on the front in front of her bed, drawing the bottoms of her feet together in front of her to sit in a lotus like position, stretching her muscles at the same time. Her back curved perfectly as she sat straight, beginning to flick through the few messages that she had received since the night before. Most were replies to messages that she had sent out after finishing her grading, but there was one new one that came from Spock.

Tilting her head ever so slightly to the side, she opened the message with a tap of her finger and watched as the short paragraph appeared.

_'Commander Vahl'Sai, I understand that your attentions must be on your planning for the upcoming term and the new Linguistics class that you will be teaching. Knowing this, it would be logical that we partake in our spar at a sooner date in order to keep the rest of the leave free for our academic responsibilities. Barring that you have no schedule conflicts, would you consider meeting at 1900 tomorrow evening in the same gymnasium as our first match? I look forward to a response from you as soon as you are able._

_ Commander Spock.'_

Smiling despite herself, Vahl'Sai quickly replied with an affirmative to his offer, knowing that after tonight she was going to need to time to unwind her tense muscles. She knew, long before even leaving the campus, it was going to be a tense and possibly even awkward affair. There was some hope that Kirk didn't end up regretting inviting her along, but she was accustomed to be people deciding she was better left behind in regards to social events.

Spending the time she had, Vahl'Sai flew through the last of the marking she needed to complete—only once getting interrupted when Spock responded to her message of agreement—and when she had only a half-hour left she tucked her PADD away and moved to pull on her new outfit, having spent the better part of her day sitting in only her undergarments on her floor. The pants were strange to wear, the tightness something she was accustomed to but the fabric strange on her skin, while she sighed in comfort when the soft fabric of the deep green shirt caressed her torso. Pike had chosen his gift carefully, remembering her complaints of the uniforms and other clothing when she had first arrived and could actually form English sentences.

Checking one more time, quickly, that her hair was still tightly done up before slipping on a pair of boots, the Sahvarian didn't allow herself to hesitate at the door and was soon whisking down the halls in a graceful stride, only a pocket of money and her communicator on her person.

**I finished my Winter Semester at school, thank god, and I am slowly picking through long awaited updates! I received a PM from **_**dark-fate96 **_**with a request to update this story, so I decided that for taking the time to message me, I would bump this one to the next on my list of 'must update ASAP' and here you all are! I hope you enjoyed it and the next one is already underway, so soon you'll get to read the bar chapter, in which Kirk tries to get our favourite Sahvarian drunk ;)**


	11. Blue Blood Immunity

**Bare These Bones**

**Blue Blood Immunity**

Kirk and McCoy were already waiting at the front gate when she arrived and both were dressed in casual clothing for the trip to the bar. Kirk was laughing loudly, his head thrown back and his hands in his jean pockets when she turned the corner, McCoy spotting her first because of his friend's distraction. He jerked a moment in surprise before he smacked his friend in the side as she approached, gaining the Captain's attention as well.

"Good evening," she greeted with a faint smile, unable to fight the fact that she felt undeniably awkward under their stares.

"Good to see you didn't wear the uniform," Kirk finally said with a broad smile. "You look good; I was starting to wonder if you owned anything else but uniforms," he teased, missing McCoy's eye-roll behind his back at how his friend was being so open with a Commander. Honestly, he makes friends with Spock and suddenly thinks everyone's going to get along with him.

"I really don't," she admitted, watching the shock skitter across his features. "Not many outfits outside of uniform fit me too well," she explained a moment later, her hands sliding into her pockets in a stance that unconsciously mirrored the man before her. McCoy looked between them with a look that bordered on amused, since neither seemed to notice the likeness of their actions, but he said nothing and continued to watch. "Even my uniforms were specially made in order to fit me properly."

"Don't tell Uhura that, she'll abduct you for a shopping trip," Kirk teased before spinning around. "Bones! You're too quiet."

"Shut up and let's go," he nearly snapped, but Vahl'Sai could see that he wasn't truly annoyed in any way with the other man. She fell into step beside them as they made their way down the street, keeping a careful record of where they were going so that she could make her way back through the winding buildings on her own. People glanced her way as she made her way through the crowds with the two younger people alongside her, but they seemed accustomed to aliens because of the Academy being so close and so they didn't pay her more than that first glance. She was sure that most people only looked at her like she was different because of how young she appeared, yet she had white hair like that of elderly people.

Vahl'Sai found herself relaxing just by the walk over, not noticing that Kirk was aware of it and seemed to ease up in response, no longer feeding off of her negative energy. Kirk and Bones were the ones that spoke the most, but they would be sure to direct questions toward Vahl'Sai, open to whatever she had to say on whatever matter they were discussing.

It was only about a ten minute walk from the Academy to the bar that Kirk and Bones apparently went to quite often, the three of them stepping in immediately to head for the bar to get a drink. When it actually came to ordering, Vahl'Sai simply stood staring at the small menu card with a perplexed look on her face, getting a boisterous laugh from Kirk and a faint grin from the doctor that he tried to hide behind a swipe of his hand across his nose.

"Don't tell me you've never had alcohol," Kirk nearly pleaded once he had recovered, getting a look akin to sheepish from the Sahvarian as she flipped the card over to look at what else was available. "No, that will not do. Since I don't know what Sahvarians can drink, we'll start out easy." With that, he ordered for the three of them.

Beer; nothing. Vodka; nothing. Tequila; nothing. Shot after shot, Vahl'Sai knocked them back without even wincing or making a face. Once she took down at a shot of rum before glaring faintly at Kirk, clearly disliking that one. She had gained quite a bit of attention from the bartenders and a couple of other patrons. People are shouting out the names of drinks for her to try, and she takes them all back like water.

Kirk watched her with an amused, content look as she began to laugh softly as she smiled. She yet to smile broadly enough for her fangs to become apparent to those in the bar, but it was better than her skittish look that he had seen when she first rounded the corner to meet them. Her white hair was beginning to fall loose around her face, the short locks slipping from her braid as her head tipped back repeatedly from the drinks she was having.

People soon started making bets, buying the drinks for her themselves so that Kirk and Bones weren't taking directly out of their pockets; not that Kirk wouldn't be able to afford them on his new salary.

Bones is actually starting to laugh at Kirk whenever he tries something new, but it seemed that Vahl'Sai was just like a Vulcan in the aspect that they weren't affected by alcohol. When he really started to get desperate of finding a way to get her at least somewhat drunk, he ordered a Romulan Ale, sitting back and watching her intently as she drinks half of the mug in a couple of deep gulps, linking her lips with a surprisingly dextrous tongue, before she looked over to him and simply shrugged her shoulders.

Bones let out a roaring laugh as Kirk threw his hands up in defeat, the small group of people that had crowded around passing money that they had placed on bets toward her reaction. Vahl'Sai finished off the mug before asking for a glass of water.

"That one tasted terrible, and I have eaten some questionable things," she explained after downing the glass. A girl that none of them knew, but was clearly from Starfleet by the uniform she was trying to hide under her jacket, came up beside Vahl'Sai with a slight sway to her step.

"What I'm amazed about is that you don't have to pee yet!" she gasped, staring the taller woman in the eye as though she was trying to read for mind for the secret of getting a bigger bladder. Vahl'Sai did a very 'Spock gesture' and raised an eyebrow at the younger, causing her to break out into a fit of giggles and disappear into the growing crowd of the bar. As the night drew in more and more people appeared in the relatively small, comfortable bar. Kirk, though he would not admit it, timed that it was an hour longer before Vahl'Sai actually excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she had left through the crowd, he looked over to Bones and mouthed with a comically surprised face 'where does it go?'

In the bathroom of the bar, after she had finished washing her hands, Vahl'Sai felt a faint tremble to her arm muscles and paused at the sink, ignoring an annoyed woman that had wanted to use that same one while there were two others on either side of Vahl'Sai, however not as clear.

The commander pulled back the deep green sleeve of her shirt, revealing the faintest of her markings. Blinking in disbelief, she traced over one of the lines that she was sure had been black earlier that day, but now was gaining a very distinct blue tone. Pulling the sleeve back down, she clenched her first when the muscles continued to dance beneath her skin. It was something akin to a muscle spasm in her arms, but it seemed more frequent.

When she rejoined the others, the spasms had all but disappeared but her focus was centered on her own body for the remainder of the evening. Whenever there was another twitch, she would discretely look at the inside of her wrist as though she was checking the time. It was nearly midnight when Kirk finally threw in the towel, having, surprisingly, spent the night with only her and Bones and not trying to pick up a single woman in the bar.

"Are you well?" Vahl'Sai asked in concern when he had to lean on her quite heavily during the walk back, hearing Bones snicker from Kirk's other side.

"You're boney," he muttered in response, his head rolling on her shoulder which she knew had no fat on it and there was indeed a very noticeable bone at the joint. "You could be Bones 2!" he yelled with such excitement that he stumbled back and nearly fell into the street had Vahl'Sai not snatched his shirt and stopped him just before he would have stumbled off the curb.

"Good god, man. You're gunna kill yourself," McCoy muttered in exasperation, helping Vahl'Sai to right him. Draping Kirk's arm over his shoulders, Bones took on the weight of their Captain while Vahl'Sai carefully made sure they were going the right way. She didn't feel any effects from the alcohol that she had been drinking, but after stopping Kirk from tripping her arm had begun to spasm again and it was too obvious for her to look at the markings now.

Back at the Academy, Pike had been meeting late with Spock after they had met to discuss Vahl'Sai's placement on the Enterprise. As Spock was First Officer, he had some sway in the decision of who would be placed upon the ship, even if Kirk would be the one to have final say. Knowing Spock's perfectionist nature, they sat together for the majority of the evening going over the files and forms that were going to need to be submitted to the council. Since Vahl'Sai was under special circumstances at the Academy, they had to be careful in how they approached the task.

When it was beginning to near mid-night, Pike called it a night and rose on shaky legs as Spock handed him his cane. Carefully organizing the files on the individual PADD's that they had been using, the two men left them on Pike's desk for him to submit in the morning and were making their way back toward the parking lot. Spock would be returning back to his dorm, but he was persistent in making sure that he walked the still recovering Admiral to his car.

"I will be sparing with Vahl'Sai again tomorrow," Spock stated in a way to fill the silence, drawing Pike's attention fully.

"Really? Well, good luck with that. I wish I could be there to see it. I wonder what it would look like for a Vulcan and Sahvarian to fight; such different styles and techniques will be an interesting clash." Spock was nodding along, remembering that he had only faced Vahl'Sai while they were both using Starfleet regulation training techniques, with their own strengths thrown in.

"I must say that I look forward to seeing the techniques of the Sahvarian race," Spock admitted, earning a small chuckle from Pike before the man stilled with rigidity. At first, Spock thought that it was his injury that had left him in pain, but he realized that he wasn't showing any signs of pain and instead was staring toward the entrance of the Academy where three familiar forms were stumbling through.

Vahl'Sai was hauling Kirk in from his shirt as he was laughing hysterically, the woman slightly dishevelled as Bones walked behind them looking thoroughly exhausted. Kirk had a good grip on the shoulder of Vahl'Sai shirt and her hair looked like it had been pulled at some point, some strands falling free from its braid until her face was framed with tendrils of soft, white curls.

Spock noticed that she winced heavily when the Captain grabbed her arm to help straighten himself.

"Admiral! Spock!" he shouted in greeting, throwing his arms out as if he wished to greet them both with an embrace. Spock raised an eyebrow at the younger man's actions, but didn't say anything as Vahl'Sai tugged Kirk back when he nearly tripped forward, Bones helping her to keep him quiet when he tried to yell for the two men a second time.

"There are people sleeping, Jim. Would you shut up?" Bones snapped as he stopped Jim from tripping into Vahl'Sai.

The Sahvarian appeared tired as she looked between the two men she had spent the evening drinking with, but there was a shine to her eyes that Pike had not seen for a long time. She was content, for some reason or another. These two men had been able to bring her from her comfort zone and do so without her withdrawing further into her shell. Even though she was clearly watching over Kirk like someone who needed to protect a child, there was a friendship there that he had not been expecting to arise.

"Doctor McCoy, I suggest returning to your rooms for the night," Pike offered, slightly amused as Kirk just snickered drunkenly as he teased Bones for his 'mother hen' like worrying.

"Yes, Admiral," Bones answered, tugging on Kirk until the other man gave in and followed after him, shouting a rather loud farewell to Vahl'Sai as they were rounding the corner toward the dorms. The Sahvarian herself watched them leave with a friendly smile on her face, the calm smile bringing a sense of relief to the Admiral now that he knew there were people out there she knew she could get along with. It was sometimes questionable how Kirk acted, but that didn't mean he wasn't a good person, especially to others who often felt different.

"Good to see you enjoying yourself, Vahl'Sai," Pike stated as she turned her attention to him and Spock, giving the older man a nod of agreement. She felt better, aside from the strange reaction to the alcohol that she had consumed, she felt better to know that Kirk was someone she could get along with, and Bones as well. "They made you drink a lot, didn't they?"

"They began a game, the entire bar, trying to see which drink would finally affect me. Doctor McCoy was saying that I have similarities to Vulcans and Romulans because alcohol does not seem to do anything to me."

"You're eyes are huge," Pike commented in return, seeing that her pupils were so narrow they could easily be missed if someone was far enough away. The vibrancy of her green eyes made his look twice, as always. They were so catlike he found them so beautiful, the brilliant green catching in the light and appearing to glow when in the dark. Since they had a coating over their eyes that allowed them to see in the dark, they did tend to glow if light hit them a certain way.

When Vahl'Sai blinked in return to his words Pike couldn't help but to snicker because it only made them look all the bigger, even 'innocent'. "I should be returning to my room as well," she said instead of drawing out the conversation further. "Commander Spock, I will be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Affirmative," the Vulcan answered with a nod of his head.

Pike reached forward impulsively and gave Vahl'Sai a one armed embrace, feeling her head push briefly against his in a manner of returning it before she began her own trek back to her dorm. The two males watched as she disappeared into the darkness of the common, away from any of the streetlights that kept the pathways lit. The only thing that remained visible was the vibrancy of her white hair that almost appeared to glow when it was hit by a stray beam of light.

When she made it back to her dorm, Vahl'Sai immediately pulled her sleeve up to check on the markings again. Flexing her arm until the tendons in her wrist stood out, the Sahvarian frowned at the bright blue that remained over her usual black markings. They were in no pain, and aside from the colour and muscle spasms there didn't appear to be any side effects. Pulling off her green shirt and the black undershirt, she stepped in front of her floor-length mirror that covered the expanse of her closet door. The markings on her ribs were the same as on her arms, stretching around to cover her back with a new colour to match her blood.

Tracing over the swirling markings on her skin, she couldn't help but to frown deeply and rush to remove the remainder of her clothes. Jumping into the shower, she turned it to the highest temperature and stood directly under the spray. It stung for a moment before her flesh acclimated to the heat. Holding her arms up to let the water hit them directly, she watched them carefully for any sign that they were changing back to their original pallor, but there was no change.

Washing up quickly to remove the smell of bar patrons and alcohol from her person, washing her hair carefully to remove the smell of sweat from the strands, Vahl'Sai was soon standing back in the kitchen of her dorm in a pair of black jogging shorts and a tight black tank top to match. The material stretched over her skin nearly perfectly and revealed just how limber she actually was. Her thighs were strong but quite thin, allowing her to remain small when she needed to even though she was hitting six feet in height already—she was already past her fiftieth year, but that was the Sahvarian equivalent for a human in their twenties.

All of her markings were affected the same way, showing the blue tone that was on her forearms. She had seen it before, in a sense. As a natural defence their markings turned a reflective colour, nearly silver, when they were in danger and their adrenaline was pumping. Much of the time, the shining markings were a way to deflect predators because of the instinct that the markings meant a fatal poison in their blood. However, when there _was_ a poison in their blood, like when Vahl'Sai's father had fallen ill, the markings were known to change into a deep blue. Never had she heard of it becoming such a light blue.

Making herself a modest meal, swallowing down several glasses of tea and water in the process, she tucked in for the night with several hours left for her to catch some time to sleep without worrying about overdoing it.

Waking halfway through the night, Vahl'Sai took down three more glasses of water before falling sleep once more, pulling off her light sleep clothes because of the hot, restricting feeling of them.

When she woke up in the morning she immediately had to head for the bathroom when the ten glasses of water and tea finally caught up to her, not even bothering to pull on something to wear since her washroom was attached to her dorm and was private to her as a Commander. Only after she no longer was in pain from the amount of water in her bladder did she notice that her markings were no longer a light blue but were a deep blue that was only one shade away from being black once more.

Pulling her hair back into a tight bun that she hoped wouldn't fall out while sparring with Spock, the Sahvarian considered braiding it back before she remembered that it often smacked her in a distracting way when she twisted her body and decided against it. Leisurely stretching while she was moving around her dorm, Vahl'Sai's relief of feeling no muscle spasms assured her that there was nothing else to worry about.

Since it wasn't until that evening that she was going to be meeting with Spock, the white haired woman instead dressed in her black uniform and left her dorm to grab a larger meal from the cafeteria and pass her office quickly to make sure all of her work had been passed through the system and her cadets grades were all looked over for those who needed starship assignments.

**Oh My God, another chapter so soon? This is amazing! ;P**

**I'm on a roll, don't mind me. The next chapter will, of course, be the spar between Vahl'Sai and Spock. I would like to thank all of those who reviewed my past two updates, I always love hearing from you and it's wonderful to know that you enjoy this story so much. So, I thank you will all of my heart and hope that I can keep your interest in this story. **


	12. An Oath From Birth

**An Oath from Birth**

Vahl'Sai arrived at the gym before Spock, roughly fifteen minutes before their decided meeting time. already dressed in her usual uniform for fight classes, the Sahvarian had nothing more that she could do than stretch while she waited for Spock to arrive. Settling herself down on mats gracefully and placing her the bottoms of her feet together in front of her, she leant her elbows on her knees and pushing them flat to the ground before bending forward to let her forehead touch the cool material of the mat she was sitting on. At the sound of light footfalls, she looked up.

Spock was wearing a uniform quite similar to hers, but while hers was meant for instructing and had the red and black that signified the security team, his was full black and more casual. In that moment, she realized that she had never seen him in anything other than his black Commander's uniform, not surprising since they had never met outside of the school.

"You arrived early," Spock commented, almost sounding surprised.

"I prefer early more than late," Vahl'Sai explained as she rose elegantly to her feet, cracking her back in the process after having been hunched over for a good couple of minutes. "Shall we have a warm-up spar?" she asked a moment later, her head tilting just slightly to the side. When Spock agreed with a light incline of his head, she smiled faintly. "Alright, the same rules apply as with our class demonstration."

Moving together to the center of the gym with a couple of yards distance between them, Vahl'Sai looked at the clock and called the minute. After ten minutes had passed, they would cease the warm up, having been given sufficient time for their bodies to adjust to the fighting.

Instead of having someone there to call _go_, they simply began. Much as before, Vahl'Sai made the initial attack, this time darting around Spock to get behind him while he was not as quick as her, landing a hit to his back between the shoulders. Instead of just tensing up at the hit to his spine like most would, he turned to meet her when she was moving away, clearly having learned from her attacks the previous time they fought. However, much the same as it had been, they also fought evenly matched, neither getting an upper hand before they were knocked back down by a counter or block. Spock was the one who noticed when their ten minute mark was up and called it, letting them both step back.

Spock watched her carefully as she took a breather, the both of them taking a brief break before their actual spar. She wasn't even breathing heavily and her posture showed no sign of strain or fatigue.

"Ready?" Vahl'Sai asked after a minute, looking over to where Spock was returning to his start position.

"Affirmative," the Vulcan affirmed as he fell into a stance that Vahl'Sai had not seen before. It was clearly from his culture, sturdy and calculated. Nodding her head, though it was more to herself than anything else, Vahl'Sai tensed her leg muscles and bent them at the knee, standing with them shoulder width apart. One of her arms moved behind her back, keeping it mostly relaxed, while her other was crossed in front of her, palm down and fingers spread in anticipation.

Looking over the way that she was standing, Spock noticed that there was a loose way in which she stood. The only thing that was actually tensed was her legs, and he already knew that she used her legs in her more serious attacks. Instead of the usual beginning, in which Vahl'Sai would charge Spock, she remained perfectly still in wait until he jolted from his spot. Spock anticipated when Vah'Sai dropped down to evade his hit and had the time to jump over the swing of her leg when she aimed to swipe his legs out from beneath him.

However, he did not account for her to completely twist her body beyond the capacity that any human could, tangling one of her legs in his and bringing him down harshly to the floor. Spock had to push himself into a roll to get out of the way when her free leg moved to slam her heel into his shoulder, hoping to dislocate it.

He barely dodged the attack and her heel slammed into the mats with enough force that he could hear the bones in her ankle shift briefly to act as a shock absorber.

Rolling away from one another, Vahl'Sai didn't take the time to let Spock regain his composure before she had thrown herself back into the fray, blocking a punch and grabbing onto his arm before she used the muscle in her legs to throw herself up and over him, bending Spock backward to the point that it was straining on his spine. The hold that she maintained on his arm prevented him from turning to take the pressure off of his spine, but it kept her hand occupied with trying to stop him from escaping.

Instead of being forced to stay in that position at a stand-still, Vahl'Sai was able to reach one of her long legs around to hook between his and trip him at the same time that she threw their weight to get Spock off of his feet, but dragged herself down in the process. One arm still bent behind his back, Spock was left face down on the mat while the Sahvarian above him was kneeling above him with a relatively calm look. Using his free hand, Spock was able to reach for the shoulder of her right arm, since it was holding his left behind his back, and gripped at the crook of her neck before she could block him.

Vahl'Sai let out a hiss as the pressure that he was putting on her nerve, but it was not as bad as he had been assuming since she was not the same as a human or a Vulcan. Her arm burned with pain and her muscles relaxed in her hand reflexively, letting Spock's arm go. Knowing better than to try and recapture his arm, she jabbed her knuckles into the wrist holding her shoulder and sent a shock of pain through his hand that forced him to release her and gave her the chance to roll away.

Aside from the discomfort in her arm, she wasn't in any other pain and shaking the limb helped to restore proper sensory movement. Spock rotated his wrist, seeing that a green bruise was already beginning to form, and watched as Vahl'Sai rose up just slightly onto the balls of her feet. That was his only warning before she charged at him with the speed he had never before seen a humanoid reach.

The lock that they had gotten themselves into made both of them more cautious of themselves and the other, preventing the fight from progressing much more past that initial point when Spock was nearly caught.

However, when Spock was able to land even just a faint punch against her sensitive shoulder Vahl'Sai soon found herself on her back on the mat, her arms blocking Spock from getting to her neck for a third time. In retaliation to him pinning her, she lifted her legs to wrap around his waist in a death grip that, if she had really wanted to squeeze hard enough, would have damaged his heart because of the location of the organ near his side. She could _feel_ the pulse against her leg and felt extreme discomfort at being so close to Spock's most vital organ.

In a quick movement of arms, Vahl'Sai had pulled Spock's right arm down below her right shoulder, leaving his body flat over her chest, and trapping him away from her tender nerve. Spock was left with only one good arm, but because it was on the opposite side as her head, he didn't have much chance of hurting her unless he was able to reach either over his back or across his shoulders.

She, on the other hand, was squeezing his waist and hips hard enough that his bones were grinding together. Unlike the previous body lock, they were not going to escape this one nearly as easily. Spock tried to lift her from the ground at one point, slamming her back into the mat with the hope that his arm would be released and he could get out, but she kept her back arched and her shoulder blade pinning his forearm down.

All he had really succeeded in doing when he lifted her from the ground was to drag her body a foot until he was on his knees with her sitting in his lap, her legs still locking him in place.

Usually being the one on top gave a person the upper hand, but Vahl'Sai was making sure that Spock's advantages were all removed and turning the position against him. He was stuck firmly in place, with no way of getting out. When Vahl'Sai legs moved up higher to his ribs, Spock knew that he had lost the duel when her knee was firmly located over his heart. If she were to squeeze her legs with the true strength that she possessed, she would crush his ribs and his heart, effectively killing him.

"I admit defeat, Commander," Spock said as he glanced over his shoulder, only able to see the side of her head of white hair. Simultaneously, her legs released his waist and his arm was relieved of the pressure she had been pressing down onto it, letting him lift his already stiff arm. Removing his body from above her person, Spock found her green eyes to remain watching him carefully.

She remained silent, still lying on her back, for only a moment more before she rose fluidly onto her feet. "I apologize if I used excessive force," she finally said as she straightened her uniform, suddenly appeared distracted.

"Is something troubling you, Commander?" Spock asked as he watched her tense body refuse to relax after the match had already been called.

Vahl'Sai was trying to relax her body, she truly was, but it was something new for her to have a match end so abruptly. While fighting him before, she hadn't needed to let herself think as a Sahvarian would and therefore didn't let herself lose to her instincts. This time, however, fighting in the style of her people had set her mind back to her opponents on her world. Even when training, a fight was not finished without bloodshed or injury. For Spock to have admitted defeat to her without her actually having to injure him was something she was not accustomed to nor prepared for.

"My people do not give up so easily; it caught me off guard," she finally admitted, turning to face the Vulcan once more as her muscles slowly began to uncoil from the fight.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

Lifting a hand to message the pinched nerve on her shoulder, Vahl'Sai continued, "Even if only training, it usually takes a crippling injury for someone to call a loss. If I had been fighting with another Sahvarian right now, I would have had to crack his ribs to get him to concede defeat."

"Had you done so, you would also have severally, if not fatally, damaged my heart. It was only logical that I admit defeat before either of us was wounded," Spock explained calmly, not seeming to mind that she had said she would have nearly killed someone at any other time.

"It may be the logical thing to do, yes," she agreed with a nod of her head, her green eyes falling closed. "But my people truly are as savage as we are accused. Before coming to Starfleet, I never left a lesson on fighting without the marks to show it."

"Your black tattoos?" Spock spoke before he fully contemplated how she may react to his words. Her eyes reopened in surprise at his words, clearly not having been expecting him to bring them up. He could see when it clicked in her mind, when he could have seen them, before her narrowed eyes of surprise softened down and she reached for her sleeve to roll it up, revealing the black designs.

They were no longer blue, all traces having faded away at last, and were once more an inky black. "They are not tattoos," she began, tracing her thumb over the one closest to the ball of her palm. "We are born with them, these marks. They start out more of a silvery white when we are young, before they gradually darken to black. When all of the markings on the body reach the same black hue, a Sahvarian is considered fully matured."

"Are you?" Spock asked with a slight tilt of his head, speaking with curiosity even as he continued to inspect the swirling dark marks.

"Not yet," she answered calmly, not seeming to care about how personal the question may have been for most people. "Very soon, however, the last of the grey marks I have will change. Given how you saw my markings, you probably saw near the grey ones—above my ribs."

Spock had seen the ones on her ribs, and he understood what she was saying as he realized that it meant her grey markings would be located on or around her breasts. "Do all Sahvarians have the same markings?" he asked, turning the topic away from her body and back to the actual significance for her people.

"Basics, but not identical. Each family has its own unique qualities, and when two families merge another new marking is created. I come from a very…specific bloodline, and because of that I have more markings than most. The markings on my torso signify my mother's bloodline. The Royal Bloodline."

"You are an heiress?" Spock asked with shock evident in his voice, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Smiling humourlessly, Vahl'Sai rolled her sleeve back down to hide her markings again. "I suppose you could phrase it that way. My mother and father are both deceased, and the only family I have left if my uncle. He is the Leader of the council on my planet, basically the king. He has no heir or other blood relations to pass his place down to, so if anything were to happen to him I would have to take his place."

"You have no say in the matter?"

"No," she denied, motioning him to follow as she approached where her bag was located with something to drink inside. "It's tradition. Not one I look forward to following, but there is no one else that is allowed to ascend to power aside from me."

"You do not sound enthused with the prospect of taking the place of Leader," Spock pointed out as he watched her extract a bottle of water from the bag she had brought with her. He had forgone bringing anything with him, and only watched as she took a simple drink from the bottle.

"The position is hardly a blessing; it's a job that comes with shackles. I would not be permitted to have my own life, but only the life that the council believes I should have. I have seen my Uncle's life as the Leader, and though he should rule over the council and the people, they rule him, instead."

After the two had left the gym, they walked together as Spock continued to ask about her culture, to which she would answer before posing a carefully thought question of his culture in return. She didn't want to accidentally offend him since she knew that Vulcan's were very private. It was hard to try and select what she wanted to say to him and to ask him; he had just lost his planet and she had been made aware that his mother was gone as well. Having never known her own mother, but still losing her in all technicalities, Vahl'Sai _knew_ that it would remain deeply painful for him.

"How is you shoulder?" Spock asked when the exited the building, stepping out into the cool evening air. They had been in the gym for only a short while so it was only reaching toward eight at night.

Rolling the joint in question, there was still that tingling sensation that ebbed through the muscle when she moved it. "Tender, but it will be healed very soon," she answered easily. "Did I wound your hand?" she asked in returned, remembering that she had to jab him pretty hard to get him to release her.

"It was an accurate hit," Spock answered while he lifted his hand. "But it will heal."

Reaching for his hand instinctively, Spock froze in place when her rough fingers took hold of his wrist and gently prodded the area. Even though her skin was rough from the years she had spent physically training and fighting, she was gentle in her actions. It was the touch of a mother, he realized. The instincts of her kind were not to kill, or be savages as she had said earlier; they were to protect. Pike had told him when explaining why she would be a good strategist that when being tested for Starfleet, she came up in the ninety-ninth percentile for protective instincts, and only the forty-eighth in violent tendencies.

She knew how to fight and protect herself, yes, but Spock couldn't see her hurting someone unless it was necessary. She had been so careful not to hurt him, and to hurt others, even when teaching them in a fight class. It wasn't that she was afraid of getting in trouble, but she just hated the idea of letting her strength rule over her.

When her thumb skimmed the bottom of his palm Spock couldn't repress a flinch, mostly of surprise, and retracted his hand. Her grip had immediately gone slack and released him.

"I apologize; did I hurt you?"

Spock clasped his hands behind his back in a way of both keeping them out of her reach, and stopping himself from reaching back for her hand. "Negative, a Vulcan's hands are sensitive, that is all."

"I did not mean to overstep my bounds," Vahl'Sai said with a bow of her head. She had been trying so hard not to verbally offend him, and ended up physically upsetting him instead.

"Pay it no mind," the Vulcan assured as he glanced over to her brilliant eyes, her expression hesitant. "Come, we should eat before the hour grows too late," he added on and motioned to their right, across where she was standing on his right side, to the path that they were coming up to that led to the cafeteria.

"Of course." Changing their direction, they resumed their previous conversation—Spock had been asking about religious beliefs of her people and Vahl'Sai was trying hard to explain it. There was the struggle of words, as many she was using had not been translated into English, but Spock's mind was quick to understand her meanings as she struggled over her examples.

Not many cadets were left at the school, but those that were watched the two with curious eyes, knowing the reputation of each Commander.

Of their differences.

**Been a bit longer than I intended, sorry, but I could never get the fight scene to my liking. It still don't really like it, but it'll have to do because even I'm losing my patience with getting this chapter out! Again, sorry for the delay, hope to hear your feedback!**


	13. To Be Human

**Bare These Bones**

**To Be Human**

For one day, just taking a nice break, Vahl'Sai didn't bother with human mannerisms. PADD's and folders of paper were scattered along the floor of her office, the woman sitting in the circle of information with her legs crossed. She didn't feel like sitting behind her desk in some cushioned chair, it was just leaving her with an uncomfortable back. Pursing her lips as she picked up the forms that Pike had dropped off, the white haired woman looked over the scrawled signature of the council that confirmed her placement on the starship _Enterprise_ by the end of the year.

Putting that sheet aside, she instead picked up the course outline of what she would need to cover through her linguistics course. After having learned English, she knew the best ways to teach the language, so she wasn't concerned with that. The only problem she was concerned with was that it was a class of a couple hundred cadets and she had no teaching assistant; she would have, _if_ anyone else knew Sahvarian.

Lifting the list of names, Vahl'Sai spotted Uhura's name just near the very top, as the names were ranked through grade average and not alphabetical. She recognized a couple of others from her defense classes, but most of the names were foreign to her. Letting the paper rest on one of her thighs, she put the PADD on her other thigh and began to pull up the information on the linguistics department.

Stretching her arms above her head with a loud groan, the woman felt a pleasant pull in her back after having been sitting still for so long. She was very careful about keeping her posture correct, but no matter what she couldn't stop her back from getting some twinges from sitting too long.

Her door chimed suddenly, telling her someone was requesting entrance.

"Allow entrance," she called to the computer as she lifting the PADD closer to her face to look at the file on a specific cadet, surprised that he was in the security program and yet he was taking an intermediate linguistics course. Perhaps a passion.

"Comfy down there?"

Glancing up, Vahl'Sai caught the eyes of Captain James Kirk.

"Yes," she confirmed with a grin, "for me, anyway. What can I do for you, Kirk?" she asked calmly, offering a faint smile. Kirk manoeuvred his way around her spread of papers, looking down at them only briefly to see that she had several things going on at the same time.

"Just wanted to give a warm welcome to my new strategist," Kirk explained with a grin as he fell into the chair next to her, looking down at her from his angle. He could see scars along her exposed ear, showing that she had once had a lot of piercings. It was hard for him to imagine, since he usually only saw her in a professional setting. Picturing her with piercings was almost as odd as imagining Spock with a tattoo.

"Well, thank you, Kirk, but we still have a while before we will actually be working together," she teased softly as she switched a page on her thigh for a different one on the floor. "Shouldn't you be chasing women around the city? After all, there are no classes right now," she asked calmly as her green eyes slanted up toward him with a grin to them.

Ever since the night they had gone to the bar, Kirk had noticed she had opened up more with her emotions. She teased him a lot more, and seemed to treat him as a friend. He had seen it when she spoke with Pike at times, treating him as someone other than just a human man that she had gotten to know.

"Aren't you cute?" Kirk asked rhetorically, seeing her eyebrow twitch as she glanced over at him with bright green eyes. "Are you really just going to sit here during vacation and go over your class lists?" Kirk asked as he began to fidget about.

"Kirk," she began in a warning tone, her eyes focusing on her work.

"Come on, Vahl'Sai, you can do more than just one night of having fun," he continued before she could scold him about something. "Come have lunch with me; I'm meeting with some from the Bridge Crew of the _Enterprise_ that you'll be working with on the Bridge."

"You are very persistent," she commented with a small shake of her head before she looked over to him one more time, just briefly, and dropped the papers down. "Yes, I will join you."

"Great!" Kirk cheered as he rose to his feet, holding out a hand to assist her as well. "Just leave your stuff here and you can come back to it. Won't be that long," he explained when he saw her glance down at the mess of papers and PADDs. Sighing nearly silently, the white haired female took his hand and let him heft her up, even though Kirk was fairly certain that she had done most of the work on her own with her insanely powerful legs.

Vahl'Sai snatched her communicator off of her desk before they departed, walking next to Kirk toward the rather empty cafeteria. He explained briefly that the Bridge Crew had wanted to get together during the break, mostly just so they had more time to get to know who they were going to be working with Vahl'Sai wasn't the only one that was going to be new, but she was the first one that had never been on a Starship before—at least, not when she was working on it.

She remembered very vividly what it had been like when she was being brought to Earth for the first time, on the _Enterprise_ in fact, and had nearly had a panic attack from the enclosed space. She had not had time to become accustomed to the metal structure before they were off, leaving her open, green world behind.

"Are you nervous?"

"For what?" Vahl'Sai asked, glancing in confusion over to the Captain. "To meet your Crew?"

"No, to be on the _Enterprise_. Pike told me that you've never been on one before, you went right from learning to teaching." Vahl'Sai looked forward again, cocking her head slightly as she pondered the question.

"I suppose, yes, I am. I am not nervous because I have never worked a job on a Starship before, but instead because I did not react well to my first trip on the _Enterprise_ when they were first integrating me into the program." When Kirk gave her a curious look, the Sahvarian elaborated. "I believe that Pike once explained it to me in human terms as being 'claustrophobic'," she reiterated, seeing it dawn in Kirk's eyes.

Instead of finding it silly, as she had learned many others did, he nodded his head in understanding. "I don't know a lot about your world, but I do know that your people are very in touch with nature. To suddenly be stuck in a metal container in outer space, it makes sense."

Snorting in a rather rude manner, which made Kirk grin in amusement and surprise, Vahl'Sai quite nearly rolled her eyes. "That's a very apt description," she muttered. "A metal container."

Shaking his head as Kirk saw yet another, more open, side of the Commander, he continued, "I'm sure it'll be easier this time around. You've been here at the Academy for a while, getting used to our buildings and staying in classrooms and offices. I have faith that you'll do just fine." Green eyes slanted to look his way and Kirk could actually see the doubt within them, making her appear much younger than her angular features and mature complexion suggested.

It made her appear…human.

A human as someone can when they're a six foot tall Savharian with white hair and shocking green eyes, all offset with deeply tanned skin. Kirk was shocked when he realized that he had once had Vahl'Sai in the same classes while they were first in the Academy; he had never really seen her before. Then again, someone like her wasn't the usual female to attract his attention. He had never been one to strive for a girl's attention when she was as tall—now taller—as he was.

Belatedly, Kirk wondered what Spock thought of the woman. She and Uhura weren't exactly similar in appearance and as far as Kirk knew, the linguist was the only woman Spock had been with while at the Academy. They both had darker skin, though Uhura was darker than Vahl'Sai, but nothing else was the same between them. Height, hair, eyes, body types. They were polar opposites.

Kirk would admit that, in her own way, Vahl'Sai was beautiful. Not in the sense that humans seemed to believe, where you had to be tall and thin and fit to a certain standard depending on the era. But in a sense of being foreign and exotic, Kirk could see people drooling over her, even with her sharp teeth and unbelievable strength. Long and lean, muscles compact but there, she had the athletic look. If someone asked him, he would tell them, in all honestly, that she was gorgeous. Even with her white hair—which he knew is what brought pause to most people that met her.

He wouldn't want her to be human, though. For Vahl'Sai to be human would be taking away all of her quirks that drew him to her, things like her odd accent and perception of human slang and the way that people on Earth did things. He remembered when they were at the bar and he had snickered whenever she received a drink, her nose twitching as she discretely smelled the liquid. It had reminded him of a rabbit.

The cafeteria was quiet when they arrived, since most of the school was vacant anyway. It was only a couple days into the vacation, so there were probably going to be other people who would leave as well, meaning that what few students remained would dwindle even further. Vahl'Sai felt her nose twitch when she caught the strong scent of spices, her eyes flicking around to try and find where the scent was coming from. Spices weren't something she was accustomed to before coming to Earth; Sahvarian usually had a large abundance of fruit that were incredibly sugary and sweet.

"Hello, Lieutenant," Kirk greeted Uhura as soon as they arrived, appearing a bit too smug, which caused the woman to almost sneer at Kirk. Until she noticed the Commander standing off behind him, green eyes fixed on her expression.

"Captain!" she corrected herself, rising to her feet and looking to Vahl'Sai. "Commander," she greeted the white haired woman as well, offering a timid, almost embarrassed, smile.

"Cadet Uhura," Vahl'Sai greeted in return, offering a nod of her head before her eyes began to look over the other members of the long table. There were many who she knew were technicians for the Bridge, holding 'less important' jobs—as she had once heard an Admiral phrase it—while others were the navigator, communications officers, what could be deemed as the pilot of the large starship.

Even McCoy was there, which was a relief. Vahl'Sai was at least happy to see another familiar face.

All of the others, however, were unfamiliar and staring at her.

"Guys, this is Vahl'Sai. She's going to be filling a new position on the Bridge, as a Strategist," Kirk introduced, his hand falling on the back of Vahl'Sai's right arm. He could feel the tense muscle beneath his hand and gave her back a pat to try and calm her down. "Introduce yourself, because there's too many of you for it to be my job."

The Sahvarian's eyes slanted down to look at him and Kirk almost felt like he was getting punished, her eyes were like a disapproving parent's. Kirk fell into a free seat next to Bones and motioned for her to take the seat across from him, beside Uhura. The linguist looked pleased to have the Commander sit next to her, carefully listening to Vahl'Sai foreign tongue as the said her greetings to the other Bridge Crew members.

"You're the Commander that took over the Self-Defense classes after the Nero incident, right?" Sulu asked after he had introduced himself, sitting further down the table from the tall woman. "I have a couple of friends in your classes; they loved you as an instructor. They said no one else was as thorough with what they taught than you were."

"I am pleased to hear it," Vahl'Sai said with a faint smile, not enough to show her canines as Kirk only ever saw her do when she was truly happy about something.

"Hey, I'm gunna go get something to eat. What do you want me to get you, Vahl'Sai?" Kirk asked as he began to rise from his seat again, pleased that Vahl'Sai seemed to be relaxing around his crew.

"Kirk-"

"No, I pulled you away from your work, so I'm buying you lunch."

And then, in a fashion that caused the surrounding Crew members to lean away, Vahl'Sai smirked. "Believe me, Kirk, you couldn't afford to feed me even with your salary." The show of sharp teeth and a daringly threatening look, Vahl'Sai finally appeared like the savage that people called her. But she completely meant to show that facial expression and it only served to make Kirk snort in laughter.

She was taunting him.

"She's right," Bones commented as he looked over to his friend, arms crossed over his chest. "Sahvarians can eat up to twice their weight in a single sitting if they're hungry enough. Vahl'Sai's metabolism burns calories and fat at a rate that would cause a human to shrivel up and die." Sitting next to her, Uhura couldn't help but to look over Vahl'Sai's body, seeing how completely thin she was.

"Is that how you drank so much while we were at the bar?" Kirk sputtered, thinking about to how long it had taken the woman to final call for a bathroom break.

"Her body converts liquids into nutrients, adding water to her blood and hydrating her muscles. Their bodies absorb more than ours because they're adapted to surviving long periods of time with neither food nor water," Bones answered for her, knowing that Vahl'Sai would know how her body worked, but not how it differed from that of a human.

"I thought information on Sahvarian's was confidential?" Uhura pointed out, glancing between the three of them. When had they gone to a bar together?

"Now that Vahl'Sai's officially boarding the Enterprise, they placed me as her Doctor, so I was given all of the information that I needed in the case of her needing medical attention or what could cause abnormalities in her health." Vahl'Sai was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable with them speaking about her like she wasn't there, shifting in her seat as she glanced around. Looking past Kirk, her eyes fell on the approaching figure of Spock.

"Good afternoon, Commander," she greeted before anyone else had even noticed him. Kirk looked confused before glancing past his shoulder, spotting the stoic Vulcan approaching with a tray holding a bowl of soup. Sniffing again, the Sahvarian realizing that was where the spicy scent was coming from.

Delicately sniffing again, she realized that it was not something she had ever smelt before. This was new to her. Was it a Vulcan dish? That would explain it.

"Spock! Good to see you," Kirk greeted enthusiastically, seeming about to smack the Commander's arm in greeting but stopped when he realized that, as the Commander was carrying a tray of food, that may not be the best idea and decided against it.

"Captain," Spock greeted Kirk with a nod before he took the remaining seat at the end of the table, between Kirk and Vahl'Sai. Unable to resist, Vahl'Sai leaned forward and delicately sniffed the soup, her nose almost burning at the intense smell of the spices and flavourings. "Good afternoon, Commander," Spock returned her greeting, seeing her eyes fixed on the soup he had before him.

"Is that a Vulcan dish?" Vahl'Sai asked curiously, her green eyes meeting with his deep brown ones. During the discussions the day before he had told her of the spicier dishes from his planet, as Vulcan had rather dull taste buds, while she mentioned the sweet fruits from her planet. Unlike a Vulcan, her taste buds were incredibly sensitive, but her people ate just about _anything_.

"It is," the Vulcan confirmed calmly. Vahl'Sai's nose twitched before she exhaled suddenly, almost as though she had sneezed.

"How can you eat something so spicy? Just the smell is burning my nose."

"Most other species can't handle Vulcan food," Uhura pointed out from beside Vahl'Sai, sounding slightly soured. The Sahvarian decided to ignore that slight trace of irritation in the woman's tone, not understanding why it was there. "They can't really taste sweet things, so they eat their food with a lot of spices."

Kirk outright laughed at that one. "It's true! I dared Scotty to try a Vulcan dish when he lost a bet; damn near burned his tongue off."

Vahl'Sai was frowning at his words, seeming confused at his small story, but she decided against asking what he meant and instead glancing over at the bowl of soup again. In a move that Spock had only ever seen felines do, Vahl'Sai briefly stuck her tongue out, seemingly to lick the air, as she used her species advances taste-buds to catch the taste of the soup.

"Don't do it," Bones warned her, knowing that the woman wanted to try the new food. "You'll regret it, Commander, believe me. Don't."

Decided to follow the advice of her doctor, Vahl'Sai simply sniffed one more time before Kirk was hauling her away to buy the two of them lunch as well, leaving behind the rest of the Crew as they pondered over their newest addition.

**This chapter was fun to write, don't know why but it was. I'm also in a class this year called Modes of Fantasy that teaches about fantasy and sci-fi in literature and film—it immediately made me think of this story. And my other Star Trek story, but still.**


End file.
